Dog owners in Palmerton may have to keep closer tabs on how they clean up after their pets.

On Thursday, borough council unanimously agreed to advertise for adoption an ordinance to amend Section 54 of the code of the borough entitled dogs or other animals after several residents complained about their neighborhood.The amendment to section 54-5 Nuisances, would add that no person owning, harboring, keeping or in charge of any dog shall cause, suffer, or allow such dog to soil, defile, defecate or commit any nuisance on property under their ownership or control in any area or on any structure within 20 feet of a dwelling, deck or patio type structure on a neighboring property, unless the person shall immediately remove all feces deposited by such dog by any sanitary method.Council's decision came after it heard a complaint from several residents who reside in the 500 block of Lafayette Avenue.Resident Mike Mazepa told council he and several of his neighbors have dealt with a problem concerning their neighbor for over a year.Mazepa said the neighbor in question has three dogs, and lets them out on the deck all year round."We've asked her to clean up," Mazepa said. "We have a smell, we have flies; what she does is she'll clean it up once in a while and she'll spray at the end of the day."Mazepa said that borough code enforcement officer Larry Zawaly and borough zoning officer Duane Dellecker have visited the property."We're hoping that something gets done as soon as possible," he said.Mazepa then distributed several pictures that were taken of the neighbor in question's property.Resident Mike Kearney added, "We eat off those decks; we'd like to sit out on our back decks."Scott Takacs said the dogs bark every morning at 6 a.m., and also remarked about the feces.