The city could end up fighting fire with fire, or in this case snowmachines and ATVs with a snowmachine and ATV.

At Tuesday evening's city council meeting, members were asked to approve the re-budgeting of $35,000 that was earmarked for a vehicle for the bylaw department for parking enforcement downtown.

Instead, it's suggested the money should go to buying an ATV, a snowmobile and a trailer for hauling both.

As council members heard in a report presented by Rob Fendrick, the city's director of administrative services, bylaw officials haven't been able to find a suitable vehicle for parking enforcement.

An internal reorganization of the department in the past year has seen the hiring of a full-time education constable.

"With the numerous complaints received from citizens of the city regarding the usage of the greenbelt areas, bylaw services has made it one of the main duties for the education constable to patrol and monitor the greenbelt areas," notes the report presented by Fendrick.

"The greenbelt areas are presently being patrolled by the bicycle constables in the summer months and during the rest of the year on a complaint basis only. In order to be successful with patrolling and monitoring the greenbelt areas all year round, it will be necessary to obtain equipment for that purpose."

Fendrick stressed the city's bylaw officers would be on the trails enforcing the bylaws already in place, adding that "we're not talking high-speed chases here."

Coun. Doug Graham praised the move to have a bylaw officer on the trails, but said more has to be done.

"It's a good first step," he said, arguing that some of the bikes, ATVs and the like driven in greenbelts around the city are ruining trails to the point that they can no longer be used for walking.

"I think the other part is going to be enforcement and working with YTG on some kind of penalty phase that when we catch these people tearing up the trails that we can actually do something," he said.

As Mayor Bev Buckway noted, the territory's work on changes to the Motor Vehicles Act may address that.

Coun. Florence Roberts cited the high cost of the idea. She questioned whether the city could receive financial help from the territory to off-set the costs, with Fendrick replying that he isn't aware of any such program.

Coun. Dave Stockdale, on the other hand, voiced his support for the purchase.

"It's frustrating when people call you and complain about the same things and you can't do anything about it," he said.

"Without some teeth out there, you know, it's very hard to stop ATVs and motorcycles."

Along with the proposed $35,000 the city plans to spend on buying the three pieces of equipment, it's also expected the ATV would cost about $5,000 in maintenance. As replacement items, the cost of maintaining the proposed snowmachine and trailer are already covered in this year's budget.

Council will vote on the re-budgeting next week.