Romeoville Dog Owner Fights Village For Months Over Citations

Kimberly Triani has been married for 23 years, and she has only seen her husband Anthony cry four times. The burly trucker shed tears at the birth of their daughter, at his mother’s funeral, when the Cubs won the World Series last year and when the family was forced to give up two of their dogs.

While the loss of the dogs deeply affected her husband, Kimberly Triani was more concerned about her grandson.

Sage was 3 when he came to live with his grandparents in Romeoville. Sage’s parents were accused of neglecting him. The young boy was later diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder, which can occur when a child’s needs aren’t met and they do not form bonds with parents or caregivers.

At 3, Sage’s first words were “dog” and “Fonzi,” the name of one of the family’s seven canines. He became attached to Fonzi, a miniature pinscher or “min pin.” Triani found it excruciating to explain to a toddler that his favorite dog was leaving.

“His biggest fear, with reactive attachment disorder, is not being able to count on anyone else,” Triani said. “My fear was that he would feel that I’ve taken something else away from him.”

“Preparing him was probably the hardest thing for me,” she said said with tears in her eyes.

Triani explained the conversation she had with Sage after she gave Fonzi away in July.

“Where’s Fonzi?” the boy asked.

“Fonzi went bye-bye,” Triani said.

“Oh, he come home soon?” Sage asked.

“No,” Triani said.

Citations, court motions and printouts of website screen shots were spread out on her kitchen table. The papers were from her eight-month legal battle with the Village of Romeoville.

“…And the worst part is how the village has treated us.”

Romeoville, Illinois, Jan. 3, 2017 -Kimberly Triani searches through a stack of legal papers at her home. (Patrick Martin/Patch)

How it Started:

Back in 2012, the family had four dogs, but Triani’s daughter and another girl living with the family wanted their own dogs too.

Triani looked through the village website and couldn’t find any regulations limiting the number of dogs. She called the village hall and an employee told her there was no specific limit. The Triani family bought two more dogs, and they eventually had seven in their suburban home.

Four years later in April 2016, a neighbor called code enforcement to complain about barking dogs on Triani’s street. Village Animal Warden Mary Helton was dispatched to the Triani home, where she noticed the number of dogs. The warden said an ordinance limits Romeoville residents to having a maximum of four dogs.

Triani said she was surprised. Helton had recovered one of Triani’s more energetic dogs from the streets of Romeoville multiple times, returning the dog to Triani after each incident. Triani said the warden came inside the home and talked about the several types of dogs without mentioning the limit.

On April 27, the warden issued Triani three $30 citations for having too many dogs. Triani challenged almost every aspect of the violation with the village.

The wrong ordinance code was written on the citations. She argued that the village ordinances require code enforcement, not the animal warden, to enforce the limitation on animals. Triani said the ordinances were vague, and the village staff had told her in 2012 that she could have more than four dogs. She claimed the village ordinances were not on the village website until after she was issued the citations.

Romeoville, Illinois, Jan. 3, 2017 -Kimberly Triani with her four dogs; Zeus is on the left (Patrick Martin/Patch)

The warden also told Triani that each dog would need a village dog tag. Triani immediately went down to the village hall and purchased seven. She used this as another argument: If the village only allowed four dogs, why would they sell her seven tags?

“They should not have sold her more than four dog tags…but that doesn’t make her exempt from the law,” Romeoville Police Chief Mark Turvey said in a recent phone interview.

He also said her arguments about not being able to find the village ordinances weren’t valid. “If she had called the animal warden or a police officer they could have pointed out the ordinance,” Turvey said.

She repeatedly called the mayor, police chief and other village officials. She met with some village officials, but she was unsatisfied.

Triani missed the deadline imposed by the village for her to have only four dogs. She said she was seeking clarification on the ordinance and the citations from the mayor and the chief of police, whom she says were on vacation at the time of the deadline.

She eventually found two new homes for Fonzi and another dog through the Romeoville Humane Society, and she put down another, much older dog.

On July 7, Triani had the chance to speak at a village board meeting. Earlier in the meeting, Toyota and Thortons had requested ordinance variances for a car dealership and a gas station to be built.

Triani said she found it ironic that the companies were requesting that the village rules be relaxed for them, while she was forced to get rid of three of her dogs to comply with an ordinance.

Romeoville Village Board Meeting on July 6, 2016 (video starts at Triani's comments)

“This entire situation could have been avoided if Mayor Noak had hired competent employees, and this is an extreme abuse of taxpayer money,” Triani later said.

Village officials had a different opinion.

“We’ve done everything we can to reach out and lend a helping hand,” Village Manager Steve Gulden said in a recent phone interview. He said the village tried working with Triani, but they could not come to an agreement.

“It’s pretty much black and white. There was a violation of our ordinance…and due to non-compliance at the time, she violated the law,” Gulden said.

“We want to be fair in how we treat everyone,” Turvey said. He said his department deals with dozens of animal complaint calls every month. “I think she should have to go to court and face the consequences.”

Romeoville, Illinois, Jan. 3, 2017 -Kimberly Triani with her four dogs. (Patrick Martin/Patch)

In Court:

After Triani missed the deadline and still hadn’t paid the fine, the village took her to court. Triani represented herself in the case, and she’s no stranger to the Will County Circuit Court. The 46-year-old has filed two dozen cases in small claims court.

Triani said she once was a television satellite saleswoman and installation technician. When a customer would stop paying for service without returning the equipment, she would seek damages in small claims court.

On Nov. 14, Judge Ken Zelazo of the Will County Circuit Court dismissed Romeoville’s case against Triani. According to Triani, the judge said the village failed to issue the proper legal documents to charge her. He dismissed the case, but later allowed the village to file the charges again. It did.

In January, Triani tried a different tactic. She went to the police department and made a Freedom of Information Request for records about Helton’s enforcement of animal ordinances. After Triani’s requests confused a clerk, a manager asked Triani what she was trying to do with the records.

“I’m going to make sure the [animal] warden loses her job,” Triani said she told the manger.

The records Triani obtained showed that she was the only resident in 10 years to be cited for having too many animals.

Romeoville, Illinois, Jan. 3, 2017 -Barkely, one of Kimberly Triani's four dogs.(Patrick Martin/Patch)

The same week Triani requested the records, Turvey and Gulden met with the village attorney about the case.

Turvey cited the length of time the case had run and the “issues involved, including mistakes by the village,” as reasons to seek an agreement to drop the case. He sent the animal warden and a police officer to see if Triani was in compliance with the animal limit.

Helton checked the entire house and found only four dogs. Triani said that Helton apologized profusely and said the village would be dropping the case.

On Jan. 9, the village prosecutor submitted a motion in Will County Circuit Court stating that Triani had violated the ordinance, but the village would drop the charges if she was still in compliance with the dog limit in March. Triani agreed to the motion.

“We thought that it was a fair deal for both sides, and she pled guilty,” Gulden said in a phone interview. “She admitted that she was not complying with the ordinance, and our prosecutors were satisfied with that.”

“This has been a complete waste of taxpayer time and money,” Triani said before leaving the courthouse on Jan. 9.

More than eight months after the initial citations were issued, the end of the case is finally within sight for Triani and the village.

Romeoville, Illinois, Jan. 3, 2017 -Kimberly Triani with three of her dogs.(Patrick Martin/Patch)

Photo at top: Romeoville, Illinois, Jan. 3, 2017 -Kimberly Triani with two of her dogs, Barkely, left, and Matilda, right. (Patrick Martin/Patch)