Is Huntsville doing enough to enforce its bylaws? That was the question up for discussion amongst councillors at today’s General Committee meeting (August 24).
It was broached by the Town’s CAO, Denise Corry, who wanted to know what level of enforcement Council is looking for from Town staff. Huntsville has just two bylaw officers, making enforcement of its many bylaws difficult to stay on top of.
“To plan for 2017 and forward, we need to know what position this committee has with respect to bylaw enforcement,” said Corry. “Are we going to be proactive or reactive when it comes to our bylaw department?”
Chair Brian Thompson opened the discussion with the comment, “This should be good.”
Councillor Jason Fitzgerald started with a bigger question: “What bylaws do we actually need?” and suggested that a review of existing bylaws should be the first step.
Deputy Mayor Karin Terziano said a more proactive response from staff is necessary.
It seems like a lot of our bylaws are complaint driven… let’s not wait for the complaint to come in (especially for repeat offences). As far as parking goes, I firmly believe that we need to do better with parking enforcement. If that means a summer student, then hire a summer student. As far as our bylaw officers are concerned… have we determined what’s a priority? Are they doing what we want them to do?
deputy mayor Karin Terziano
Mayor Scott Aitchison said that a summer student might help with the problem of people over-staying their spots or parking in no-parking zones, but that Huntsville’s lack of parking also needs to be addressed. “If we are going to have free parking, then we have to enforce that people are actually parking in parking spots while at the same time we need to provide more parking in our downtown core.”
Councillor Dan Armour added that he wants to see consistency in how the bylaws are enforced, while Councillor Bob Stone noted that perhaps the consequences of infractions aren’t steep enough particularly with parking. “People are parking right under the no parking signs… Part of the problem is tickets are only 15 bucks,” said Stone. “If you only get a parking ticket once a week, 15 bucks for parking right next to the business you’re working in seems to be okay with them. Maybe increasing the price of the ticket might help the solution.”
Corry suggested that staff could, in slower months, start evaluating the existing bylaws and come back to committee with a report identifying where most of their time is spent on enforcement to ensure that it’s in the areas most important to Committee.
The bylaw enforcement officers have many functions throughout the year, noted Derrick Hammond, the Town’s Executive Director of Development Services. Summer is often consumed by enforcement while there are other year-round functions like licensing and court appearances.
Along with the review of those bylaws, it would be fair to staff to also establish procedures as to how those bylaws are to be implemented and they need to be approved by council so that staff can go forward and know that the bylaws they are enforcing and the way that they are enforcing them have been endorsed by this group.
Derrick Hammond, Executive Director of Development Services for the Town of Huntsville
Thompson wondered if some of the bylaw functions could be off-loaded to other departments, citing the possibility of selling dog licenses at the library as an example. Hammond said that staff could consider such options as part of the review.
What’s your perspective, Huntsville? How could the Town better enforce its bylaws? Weigh in with a comment below.
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Would increased enforcement, no-pay meters solve the downtown parking problem?
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I can’t understand why enforcement doesn’t pay for itself. What do the current enforcement officers do now?
I agree with Dave Johns fully, Yesterday I made a inquiry to the Town but I realize it is too soon to receive a reply.
What about the Bayview Hotel. What a sight for everyone to see on CTV news, with coverage of the shooting. Come on Mayor and your high paid team, do something!!.
Last summer it took me 6 weeks of complaints to get the neighbour to cut the grass. It was literally up to my waist. The by law says 6 inches not 6 feet deep. Thanks to Karin Terzanio it finally got cut. Me, I don’t care what their house looks like cosmetically but when it looks abandoned and no one lives in it, makes me sorta nervous being so close. Before Karin stepped in I had literally called the by law department 6 times or more. The neighbour on the other side of the grass problem was trying to sell their house which wasn’t exactly fair play by the owners of the house with the hay field for a lawn. Oh yeah, I also had to call the Town again this year for the same offense.