After months of review the ad-hoc committee challenged to revise the animal control ordinance finally moved forward.

The council is hopes to approve an ordinance by the end of the year.

The state of Indiana will impose its own animal control laws on January 1st, which are supposed to be stricter than the ordinance being considered in Elkhart.

"The history on the origins of the state were originally directed at the puppy mill problem, and they're very general," said committee member Dr. Rick Nelson.

About half of the city council members said Tuesday they were unaware of the severity of the state's law until Dr. Nelson addressed the council during public comment.

"It's disappointing that I have been given very little time to reflect what we have and what we could have and what the county has just passed," said council member David Henke.

"When everybody put this ad-hoc committee together, we knew about this time frame," responded council president Rod Roberson.

The council debated for nearly three hours on an issue many council members realized was much larger than they anticipated before Tuesday.

"It's an eleventh hour situation here and there's still discussion to be had, this is not a perfect ordinance," Dr. Nelson said.

With the city down to the wire on time, some residents grew frustrated.

"The lord runs the universe with 10 commandments and we've got 36 pages of animal ordinance and it's still not settled," said one resident during public comment.

"The goal here is to make the public safe, all this other stuff about taking care of dogs and cats, that's good, but people are more important than any other animal," council member Brent Curry said.

The council voted 7-1 to send the ordinance to a council meeting without recommendation, with Henke voting no and Mary Olson absent from the vote.

Many said they voted to send it to council to avoid wasting time holding more meetings.

It will come up for a vote during Monday's council meeting, but council members will likely propose amendments to the ordinance proposed by the committee.