ORD-2008-069 - Proposed Animal Ordinance Amendment on the Tethering of Dogs

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Tethering Committee Report July 30'', 2007 P • The implementation phase will involve a year-long period of extensive public outreach and education regarding the ordinance amendment and practice of tethering followed by a six month period in which only warnings are issued This is to ensure that dog owners have ample notice of the new ordinance and time to transition to other methods of confinement and take advantage of community resources to help with the implementation of alternatives. Public outreach should include resources to help dog owners implement alternatives to the restraint of dogs by tethering, as well as information about the new ordinance. The Committee believes that public outreach and education is pivotal to its recommendations. These pursuits would presumably be led by the Animal Services Department, working in concert with its citizen advisory board and perhaps other stakeholders. Enforcement • Upon initial contact for noncompliance with the new ordinance, after the six -month phase -in period, a doe owner will receive a warning that gives him or her thirty (30) days to come into compliance. As with the initial implementation period itself, this initial enforcement approach is designed to ensure that dog owners are aware of and able to comply with the tethering ordinance. • Civil citations with a monetary VenaLty on a progressive (or graduated) schedule ordinarily will be issued for noncompliance after issuance of a warning to come into compliance • An animal may be impounded after the issuance of a citation for a violation of the tethering ordinance —which itself would occur only after the issuance of a warning— subject to an appropriate process of appeal by the animal owner. Given the right to and requirements of "due process," there would not only be an appeal process but a specific legal mechanism for determining possession and ownership of an animal in the event that an appeal failed. 10