To date, most of the work done on bylaw enforcement in Boyle has been educational in nature and it seems to be doing the job.
Jeremy Oakes, the peace officer for Athabasca County and who provide bylaw enforcement to the village under a contract with the county, presented an update at the village’s council meeting Nov. 19 on his work since he began the job this summer.
In total, Oakes looked into 23 instances with almost all of them taken care of through educating the residents about what can and can’t be done under the bylaws.
“I find that small town bylaw enforcement is more of an art form, about being proactive and people are more amenable to public education,” Oakes said, also noting there are more important things to do than hammering hard-working people with tickets.
There was one issue that Oakes brought up that council did need to address – what to do about the cleaning of sidewalks in the village.
Oakes clarified the present policy, which states sidewalks need to be cleaned of snow and ice within 72 hour following a snowfall. However, with no set penalty, the only recourse is for the taxpayer to pay for what it cost for public works staff to do the work.
“That’s something we would like to avoid and from most people we get compliance through education,” said Oakes, though he admitted some people have become complacent due to previous years where public works simply did the job for them.
Following his report, council discussed what should be done to clear up the confusion.
Chief administrative officer Charlie Ashbey stated there is a need to make things clear with public works that changes will be made from what was done last year and council agreed that enforcement will be toughened up and combined with a public education campaign.
As for dealing with lots that are vacant, council said those that have agreements for the village to use as snow dumps will go on as is normal practice.
The rest will be on their own, with a slight time delay prior to public works swooping.
New RFP
The request for proposals should be complete and a motion to accept a new construction bid on the Municipal Centre should be in front of council when they meet this week, Ashbey stated on Nov. 19. Financing scenarios were also presented with Ashbey recommending a 25-year term at a cost of about $939,000.
Belated gift
Two councillors from the Town of Athabasca dropped by to present Mayor Bob Clark with their gift to the village for their recent Centennial – reprint of a photo of Boyle taken by Bob Pierce in 1954.
“It’s unique and I bet some of the seniors around would know some of the people in the photo,” said Clark.
CAO report
Ashbey informed council that he will be speaking to CN regarding a right of way so a gas line can cross the track to a new industrial development and that the village has seen some proposed developments come in such as car wash and a major RV park that is being proposed.
