Dog owners need to clean up after their dogs, as well as stay out of Nesquehoning parks with their furry friends.

Borough council on Wednesday addressed a resident's complaint regarding people taking their dogs into the park in New Columbus and allowing them to defecate in the park, on other people's properties or on sidewalks and streets and not clean it up.It is posted that no dogs are allowed in the park, council said.Council President David Hawk said it comes down to being an enforcement issue that needs to be addressed.According to the borough's animal ordinance, it is "unlawful for any person to allow excrement from the person's dog to remain on any public sidewalks, streets, alleys or thoroughfares of the borough of Nesquehoning and it shall be unlawful for any person to fail to remove excrement from the person's dog from any public sidewalks, streets, alleys or thoroughfares of the borough of Nesquehoning."A dog owner who is caught not cleaning up after their dog or being in a park that is posted no dogs can be cited and fined.Councilman George Sabol said that he also filed a complaint after witnessing a dog owner not cleaning up after their animal.John McArdle, Nesquehoning emergency management coordinator, said this is not just a problem in the parks, but plagues residents all over town.Hawk said that the issue has been discussed in the past and needs to be enforced, but the problem is that unless a person is caught in the act of letting their dog defecate and not clean it up, it is hard to enforce, but enforcement will need to step up with regard to dogs in the parks.In other matters, council acted on or discussed the following items:• Mayor Sam Kitchko announced that for the month of March, police received $2,885.56; issued 65 citations, had 610 incidents reported and drove 4,077 miles while on patrol.• Approved the refund of $6,467.41 to Rush Township for overpayment of the 2015 sewer charges.• Approved Bio-Haz Solutions time extension request on the final decision of its land development plan. The extension moves the deadline back from April 30 to June 30.• Tabled any action with regard to PA Solar Park I's financial security reduction request due to issues and questions that are still outstanding.