The Bark of the Dog

David and I met today to assign duties for the tasks at hand.  Our general goal is to increase revenue for CMS - every business's (for profit or not) ultimate goal.  And again, a good task for me as someone who built a business from the ground up less than three years ago.

My focus has become how to incorporate CMS into neighbor to neighbor disputes involving barking dog complaint - a very common issue.  Lane County Animal Services (LCAS) is responsible for enforcing city and county codes that restrict barking/nuisance dogs.  I've been looking into this in depth over the past couple weeks and have learned quite a bit about the opportunity CMS has to approach LCAS for contracted services for these types of complaints.

Money.  It's somehow always about money.  Today I learned that despite having a nearly $2M budget, LCAS does not have the money to send people to homes for barking dog complaints.  When you go online for information, the LCAS website does a good job of tempting you to adopt a dog or cat, but very little to address your concern about your neighbor's annoying dog.  Here's what the recording says when you call LCAS for info on barking dogs:

"If you live within the city limits of Eugene, there is an ordinance for dogs which persistently bark or howl and thereby unreasonably deprive a person of peace and quiet.  There is also a similar ordinance for unincorporated Lane County residents.  However, due to a reduction in staff from budget cuts, the services for regulating this ordinance have also been cut and therefore are not enforced.  We do strongly recommend talking with the neighbors to civilly resolve the problem.  If this does not provide results, we can mail the dog owner a letter outlining the issue and the regulations regarding it along with suggestions to remedy the problem.  However this is not a complaint to the dog owner.  If this is something you would like us to send please be prepared to provide an accurate address for the dog owner and press 1 to speak to a representative."

So, the budget problem is clearly not a secret.  The question is, how to we convince a county agency that's clearly hurting for funds to pay CMS for services that may help reduce complaints and make for happier neighbors?  The answer is, create value.  We have to help LCAS understand that CMS is the best thing to walk in the door since sliced bread (you know what I mean).  It won't be easy.  But overcoming difficulty is something I actually enjoy.  This is a good job for me.  Looking forward to it.