The Town of the Blue Mountains (TBM) is looking at expanding its municipal bylaw enforcement department to help aid COVID-19 monitoring and enforcement on town-owned lands.
“We have looked at a schedule that would put us in a good position to be able to monitor and enforce our parks and, in particular, our waterfront,” said Shawn Everitt, CAO for the TBM.
TBM staff outlined plans for enforcing COVID-19 safety protocols throughout the municipality at the council meeting held earlier this week.
“We have identified hiring up to eight additional co-op municipal bylaw officers,” Everitt continued.
He explains the addition of eight officers is currently just a suggestion for council’s consideration, and has been proposed as staff feel it is the necessary complement to provide seven-days-a-week monitoring and enforcement of town-owned lands, which will include Peasemarch and Fireman’s Park.
Staff are also exploring the possibility of working with a college or police academy to establish a co-op. The proposed new co-op municipal bylaw enforcement officers would be signed-on for 12-week contracts.
This would see a total of 12 bylaw officers on staff this summer in the TBM, with eight officers focusing specifically on COVID-19 related issues, which would include monitoring the town’s proposed paid parking pilot program.
“Our primary goal is to ensure the community is safe and I am happy we are taking that seriously,” said Mayor Alar Soever. “It is important that we have the capability to inform and advise people of the importance of social distancing.”
TBM councillor Andrea Matrosovs says she would like to see municipal bylaw enforcement being carried out in the TBM’s rural areas, not just the in-town hot spots.
“I am going to argue that the rural locations are just as affected and need just as many safety reminders from the enforcement officers due to COVID-19 as anywhere else,” Matrosovs said.
She used the example that she had witnessed over the weekend along the highway at 10th line and Metcalfe Rock’s.
“There were 25 cars on each side of the road, including the illegal parking. People were not practising the six-foot distances, and it is going to continue to get worse in our rural areas,” she said.
“The strain on the parking and constant illegal parking is a huge issue. We lost a local person. Someone died on that strip because the parking was not regulated back then. I do not want to see that kind of thing happen again,” Matrosovs continued.
Everitt says, staff want to ensure bylaw officers are able to provide fulsome coverage of the entire municipality.
He noted that the current plan identifies the need for a rented or leased vehicle, which would allow bylaw officers the ability to move across the entire TBM land base.
The total estimated cost to implement the additional bylaw officers for the 12-week span will ring in around $160,000. This will include purchase of equipment and the rental or lease of a vehicle.
TBM staff are looking to get boots on the ground as soon as possible.
“I am sure there will be some in the community that worry we are becoming a police state, but the statistics so far, since COVID started, show that this is largely an educational role,” said Soever. “Certainly, there will be enforcement if people do not take kindly to the education.”
Soever adds he has been tracking COVID-19 related calls and complaints since the end of April.
“We have had over 100 calls to police and bylaw [since the end of April], and this has only resulted in five charges,” he said.
TBM council will reconvene on June 29 to finalize its plans for the additional co-op municipal bylaw officers.
