City loses veteran bylaw manager

The city is losing its longtime manager of bylaw.

The city is losing its longtime manager of bylaw.

These days, if you call manager John Taylor’s office, his voice mail will tell you he’s out of the office “indefinitely.”

Taylor, who is using vacation time he has saved up, will remain on the city’s list of employees until June 30, working on the proposed changes to the Vehicle for Hire and Traffic bylaws as needed.

He will then officially retire with his wife to Vancouver, where they bought their retirement home a few years ago.

“I’ve really enjoyed myself,” Taylor, a former RCMP officer, said in an interview today of his 12-year career with the city.

Turning 60 in June though, Taylor said it’s time to hang up his gloves on his working career and focus on enjoying his retirement years.

Prior to coming to the city, Taylor spent 26 years with the RCMP.

Knowing he could be transferred and wanting to stay in the Yukon, when the opportunity to manage the bylaw department at the city arose, he went for it, and has been in the role ever since.

“It’s certainly been an eye-opener,” he said, adding that when he took the job, he didn’t realize it would involve as much rewriting of bylaws as it did.

“That was interesting,” he said, noting over the years he’s gained a good sense of the process of municipal government, and he hopes he’s made a positive contribution to the city.

When he talks of the most memorable bylaws, it’s not the more controversial ones like the smoking or animal control bylaws that come to mind for him, but rather the business licence bylaw.

Taylor was only two months into his job when he was charged with coming up with the regulations around businesses.

“It was a quick learning curve,” he said.

There are other laws he’s also pleased with, including the animal control bylaw.

“I think it’s a good piece of legislation,” Taylor said, noting it also provides off-leash areas for dogs within the city along with regulations for pets.

The dog bags provided along major trails have proved a benefit as well. While not all dog owners use them to pick up their dogs’ waste, they have helped reduce the amount of such waste found on the trail.

As Taylor gets set to leave the city, bylaw officers will be doing more enforcement on the waterfront for such matters.

Throughout his time with the city, Taylor has been no stranger to controversy, something he said goes with the job as new bylaws are introduced.

It’s not a job, he said, for someone who can’t handle such controversy.

One of the biggest issues came with the bylaw that banned smoking in all public places prior to the territory-wide legislation being in place.

“That took a couple of kicks at the cat,” Taylor said.

As the law was introduced, bars, the local pool hall and numerous bingo players argued against it, stating it infringed on their rights. Bars and the pool hall were eventually granted a one-year extension before having to conform with the bylaw.

“It was something the public wanted,” Taylor said, recalling a number of business owners telling him they were pleased with the city putting it in.

As he pointed out as well, the city has been on the leading edge of many such laws even before he began working for the city.

It was the city, he said, that originally banned public drinking decades ago.

As Taylor gets set to leave his position, he said he’s also prepared to help with hiring his successor, if officials want him to.

City manager Dennis Shewfelt said this morning he and other staff have yet to decide how to proceed on that question.

In the meantime, senior bylaw constable Dave Pruden will take the lead in the bylaw department.