MAYVILLE — The issue of stray cats in the village continues to be a problem.

During a recent meeting of the Mayville Village Board, residents expressed their concerns about people feeding stray cats, including at the Tops and M&T Bank parking lot.

Trustee Ben Webb described his experience shopping there at night.

“I felt a little nervous,” he said. “I parked my truck by the ATM side near M&T. I went to come out of Tops to get into my truck. As I was walking over there these cats just starting coming out of nowhere, all over the place.”

One resident said there are people that come to the village late at night and leave food all over the parking lot.

“The kicker is they drive in from out of town,” he said. “They don’t live in town. These people aren’t village residents that do this. I’ve spoken to them endlessly and they continue to come back.”

The resident also said the people who feed the cats leave not only food plots but also cans, bags and papers in the parking lot.

Trustee Rick Syper said he’s spoken with bank officials but they don’t think it’s a problem. “They don’t seem to want to partner to help this situation,” he said.

Another resident expressed frustration that her neighbors feed stray cats and they get into her garden and the scent gets into her house. “You all don’t know what it’s like to have your house smell like cat litter,” she said.

Next month, the Village Board will hold a public hearing regarding stray cats. That legislation, however, is mainly to permit Little Angels, which has a contract with the village, to trap, spay/neuter, treat and release the cats. One woman with the organization said they had been threatened in the past with being arrested if they trapped and/or released the cats.

Village Attorney Joe Calimeri cautioned officials that, although he doesn’t see any problems with the law, he isn’t sure it’s going to make much of a difference in terms of lowering the number of stray cats in the village or addressing the problem of people feeding them in places like the Tops parking lot.

Webb said he still supports the legislation.

“If it’s not going to hurt us in any way, but it’s going to give her (Little Angels representative) comfort that she’s protected so she’s more excited to do the job she’s doing, it seems to make sense,” he said.

Mayor Ken Shearer said he didn’t see a need for the proposed law and voted against calling for the public hearing. The rest of the trustees voted in favor. The public hearing will take place at 6:50 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13, at the Carlson Community Center, 50 W. Lake Road, Mayville, at Lakeside Park.

Once the cats are spade/neutered, Little Angels clips the animals’ ears before releasing them back to where they were captured. The resident who complained that he sees people feeding stray cats said he does notice that a lot of the cats there have clipped ears.