RAYLAND — The YTR Bark Park opened earlier this month and already is at the center of a dispute between a resident, the village of Rayland and a fencing company.
Rayland resident Frank Rico originally came up with the idea for the YTR Bark Park as a way to honor his sister, Carann Rico, who died in 2021. Rico funded the project with his brothers, donating $100,000 for the park to be constructed.
“I wanted to do something in my sister’s memory and this area didn’t have anything like this, and the only thing that made my sister happy were her dogs,” Frank Rico said.
The facility is located at Bill Mazeroski Park. It includes a designated area for smaller dogs and a designated area for bigger dogs. The park opened on June 1.
“We had 30 to 40 dogs in the park on opening day with no incident,” Mayor Tammy Morelli said.
Only seven days after the grand opening, though, an incident occurred that reportedly led to the death of Frank Rico’s dog that originally was his sister Carann Rico’s dog.
“I feel so bad. It’s just the worst thing that could have happened,” Morelli said while discussing the June 8 incident.
According to Rico, he was taking his small dog on a walk on the south side perimeter of the park without a leash. An aggressive large dog ran through the bottom of the fence and attacked and killed Rico’s dog.
“A lady with two boys and a girl pulled up, and they had two dogs and they went into the big dog side. The first dog came up to the fence just checking out what was going on, but the second dog got under the fence in no time. I never expected that to happen, but it grabbed the whole dog (Rico’s pet) and just ripped him apart,” Rico said.
After the incident occurred, Rico called Morelli and told her to close the park until further notice. The facility is expected to remain closed until the fence can be repaired.
Rico blames the company Black Bear Fence Co., which installed the fence in October 2023.
“I told her to shut it down because the fence was unsafe. Next, I called the company and I told them, ‘What you did was wrong. You should have never put in a fence in like that whether it’s a dog park or in someone’s backyard.’ He said that they put it in the same way they put it in at Tunnel Green,” Rico added. “I’m not asking for money. I just want it fixed so it doesn’t ever happen again.”
He said that before the incident, he contacted Morelli and Black Bear Fencing and told them he believed the fence was too loose and needed to be tightened. Both Morelli and Black Bear Fencing told him the plan was to put 60 yards of mulch along the bottom of the entire fence to fill in the gaps along the fence. Morelli said that the mulch was received on May 31, but due to flooding in April the village of Rayland was behind on construction.
When contacted by phone, the owner of Black Bear Fence Co. said the village was satisfied with the work when it was completed seven months ago. Although he did provide a brief comment, the man who identified himself as the company owner declined to provide his name.
“We entered a contract with the village of Rayland, not Frank,” the man said. “Frank is a resident, and we have had no negotiations with him.”
According to all parties involved, Black Bear Fence Co. and Morelli spoke about the gaps in the fencing and determined the solution was to fill in the gaps with mulch. Rico, however, doesn’t believe that filling the gaps with mulch is sufficient and wants Black Bear Fence Co. to install tension wiring at the bottom of the fence to reinforce it so that nothing would be able to pass through the fence.
After deliberation, Black Bear Fence Co. agreed to put a bottom rail at the bottom of the fence and waived its labor fee, planning only to charge for the cost of materials. Rico believes the company should do the work without any charge to the village.
“The issue isn’t the fence. It moves at the bottom, but you have to be a vicious dog to tear through there,” Morelli said. “Do not bring aggressive dogs into a dog park.”
The YTR Bark Park has signs listing its rules at the gate. Dogs must be licensed and vaccinated. No dogs that have been deemed vicious are permitted. And dogs must be removed from the park at the first sign of aggression.
“The bottom line is the rules state no aggressive or vicious dogs and you must have your dog on a leash, so they were both wrong. It is a very tragic situation. I’ve never dealt with anything like this in my life,” Morelli said.
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