compromise

Started by ValerieC • 4 replies • 1645 views

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ValerieC (North Carolina)
Posts: 25

Posted:

The homeowners with 4 uncontrolled barking dogs were informed of our fining procedures according to our attorney's advice, based on NC statute. Their attorney has told them they don't have a cast. Time to settle. They are requesting that the fines be waived and they will control the disturbance by keeping the dogs inside with the windows closed when they are not at home. Hmmm...maybe...for how long? The fear of the fine has worked apparantly.
Do we give them a chance? After nearly 3 years of citing them, makeing suggestions, being disrespected, blah, blah....
Can we make them sign a document that says they recognize their fault, agree to abide by CC&Rs from now on, accept that our steps to require the removal of the dogs subject to fining applies in the future?
The possiblity of fining has a portion of the neighborhood up in arms. We don't want to make the problem any bigger than it has to be. We feel like their aknowledgement is some measure of success. Comments? Suggestions? Please!

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

Valerie, it is up to your Board whether or not they want to waive a fine. If they so chose, I would suggest sending a notice that the fine will be waived so long as they they install barking collars on every dog and agree that any future violation will be fined without further notice. I would NOT include anything which threatens removal of the dogs.

BrianB (California)
Posts: 2,820

Posted:

being lenient is nice. However, it sets precedent, and later in life, hte board will be asked to be lenient here, and there, and over there... after all, you let THOSE GUYS go three years and ignore things, and never fined them...

IF the board waives the fines, it should be with a tight contract, like roger states: fines waived under these conditions. If these things occur within this time frame, the fines will be assessed FULLY, the waiver is null and void.

WilliamT (Arizona)
Posts: 489

Posted:

Posted By RogerB on 06/08/2006 9:28 AM

Valerie, it is up to your Board whether or not they want to waive a fine. If they so chose, I would suggest sending a notice that the fine will be waived so long as they they install barking collars on every dog and agree that any future violation will be fined without further notice. I would NOT include anything which threatens removal of the dogs.

Valerie,

Roger's suggestion seems to be very workable. The owners know now that they must comply, and they are willing to negotiate. However, just keeping the dogs inside with the windows closed may prove to be only a band-aid, and an attempt to avoid the fines. Loud barking dogs inside can still be a nuisance, and it may not be best for the dogs to be kept inside all day.

Just wiping out the fine could show a weakness that the owners, and others, could exploit at another time. (If the owners are having financial problems, then that is a different story and boards should be sensitive to that.)

By having the owners take the money that would be used as fines, and use them to install dog collars is a way to make a compromise solution that will be permanent.

It serves the purpose of not setting a precedent of arbitrarily wiping out fines, and it allows the homeowner to let the dogs out any time of day, whether they are at home or not.

Since dog collars do not injure dogs, I would view Roger's suggestion as a win/win situation that the owner should be willing to accept.

The future violations being fined without further notice has strong teeth which the owners cannot ignore.

Bill

SwanB (Washington)
Posts: 199

Posted:

I agree with the responses written before me and wonder why, after three years of getting no where with these individuals you would feel they deserved some backpedaling. I say keep moving forward on the path you have established; they are learning a lesson and keep making it a positively reinforced one, not a negatively reinforced one.
The only recourse against violators are education as to the rules and regulations and monetary fines. Use them.

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