City adopts wide-ranging bylaw review
A review adopted by council Monday night will serve as a guide for the city’s bylaw department in the years to come.
A review adopted by council Monday night will serve as a guide for the city’s bylaw department in the years to come.
The document details a long list of recommendations for downtown parking enforcement, animal control, and working with First Nations.
It also encompasses trail patrol and enforcement, workflow management tool and performance indicators, and moving violation enforcement.
As the Star reported last Tuesday, a number of the recommendations would take advantage of technology, including the use of aerial drones to monitor city trails.
Before the city moves forward with that recommendation, said bylaw manager Dave Pruden, officials would have to look at legislation around it.
“Mentioning drones, there’s a lot of fear of Big Brother, and we have to make sure that privacy laws are being followed, and we are not seen as being too officious,” Pruden told council last week.
Other recommendations that would take advantage of technology include online parking ticket payment options, the potential replacement of parking meters with kiosks and parking apps, and working with the Yukon government to look at implementing photo radar.
The proposed greater use of technology was praised by Coun. Jocelyn Curteau before last night’s vote, as she noted it will allow the city to “do more with less.”
Further work with the territorial government would see the city advocate for the ability to charge vehicle owners for moving violations and for sufficient hours for RCMP to provide adequate enforcement for moving violations.
The list of recommendations also includes consolidating the city pound with the 20-year-old Mae Bachur shelter, which could mean a cost saving for the city.
Also recommended in the report is the creation of a hybrid position between the bylaw department and the Kwanlin Dün First Nation community safety officer, and computer system improvements.
The review has been adopted as a guiding document. However, the implementation of the recommendations will be subject to future budget decisions. That point was noted by Coun. Samson Hartland in voting to adopt the document.
Coun. Betty Irwin acknowledged there has been some negative reaction to the proposals outlined, but argued the city is growing and can’t run on outdated bylaws. She then described the recommendations as “practical and doable,” saying she was pleased to vote for the document.
All of the recommendations are worth looking at, said Coun. Rob Fendrick.
Coun. Dan Boyd focused largely on the recommendation around the use of drones, saying much more work will be needed before drones could be flown.
He said he was comfortable with the other proposals outlined in the document and voted in favour of it with the rest of council.
Comments (3)
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Zeero on Aug 1, 2018 at 5:16 pm
Interesting position on the moving violations. This program works exceedingly well in many other Municipalities, Yellowknife being a comparable city where their staff do perform moving violation enforcement, along with Inuvik as well, and to the south, Community Peace Officers in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Saying no to Whitehorse doing this is step backwards. All the training in the world is available to help them transition into this. I say yes, and I say that's the first thing they should be implementing regardless of what the RCMP in the City might think....it's not up to them anyway.
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ProScience Greenie on Jul 28, 2018 at 9:46 am
That this is approved, especially the drone thing, shows Council is out of touch with average citizens and only represents a small group of their immediate friends and family. The rest of you they want to govern, not represent as they should be doing. CoW voters need to give them a hard boot out the door. Especially Curteau.
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Max Mack on Jul 24, 2018 at 4:32 pm
Every one of the recommendations cited in this story will result in increased costs and result in increased pressure to raise revenues (through taxes, fees, fines, etc).
I see no reasonable justification for any of these proposals. Quit trying to fix what ain't broken.
The biggest red flag for me is "moving violations". Absolutely no, under no circumstances. Let the RCMP do their job. Let's not give CoW an excuse to further terrorize its citizenry. Consider the enormous cost and liability implications of bylaw officers acting as cops. This won't be cheap, and CoW cannot resist the temptation to use "moving violations" as a revenue-generation tool.