Scofflaws beware

Bad Boys, Bad Boys what cha gonna do, what cha gonna do when the come for you…

City Council is getting tough on those that flaunt the City’s Bylaws. On Tuesday night, the pressing issue of by law enforcement came up at City Council and it was announced that the City had hired two new bylaw officers to enforce the city’s regulations.

Council also has its eyes on those that have chose to disregard their parking tickets, with some 2,335 unpaid parking tickets still outstanding, there is some thought to having the scofflaws cases sent off to a collection agency.

The Daily News featured the latest get tough declaration from City Hall in the Thursday edition of the paper, as well as providing an update on the glacial like speed that the parking review is taking to address parking concerns in the Cow Bay area.

NEW WORKERS WILL HELP CITY COLLECT PARKING FINES
City hires two new bylaw officers with a mandate to enforce regulations
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Pages one and three

Unsightly premises and unpaid parking tickets will be on the agenda for Prince Rupert’s two new bylaw enforcement officers.

On Tuesday night, council appointed the city’s second officer in the past two months, which brings the staffing compliment back up to a level where it can be effective.

City Administrator Gord Howie said the city has historically had two bylaw officers and their duties have included enforcing the parking bylaw as well as parts of the streets and roads bylaw.

Last year, council also enquired about having the bylaw officers pursuing unsightly premises.

“That has not occurred because of a lack of people in the bylaw enforcement department,” said Howie.

However, they will be ramping up to deal with unsightly premises, looking at derelict vehicles and extending their work to handle all bylaw infractions. Council members also noted there are some 2,335 unpaid parking tickets in the city.

“I am wondering if that new person is going to see to it these tickets are collected?” asked Coun. Ken Cote.

“There are staff that have been working on the backlog of unpaid parking tickets. With the hiring of bylaw officers… we are ramping up our ability to collect on some of those unpaid parking tickets,” said Doug Jay, the city’s corporate administrator.

Howie added that if there are a lot of tickets that go a long time overdue, the city will use a collection agency.

Coun. Sheila Gordon-Payne encouraged staff to look at a system where people received a reduced penalty, it they paid their tickets quickly.

In the meantime, Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond said they are still working on the terms of reference for the parking task force. The committee wants to know specifically what they should look at, said Pond, before they start their work.

The city committed $15,000 to a parking study more than a year ago but work has yet to get underway.

The city was prompted to form the task force back in 2005, after they received a large petition from concerned business owners and city residents about the parking situation in Cow Bay.

Specifically, the petition asked council no to proceed with the sale of the lot across from the Atlin Terminal which is currently being used for parking, until some plans had been developed to address parking needs in the area. Back the, council urged staff to move as quickly as possible on the study, faster than the one year time-line that was then proposed.

The last parking study done by the city was carried out in 1985.