PARKING DOMINATES BYLAW COMPLAINTS
Parking infractions remained the highest amount of complaints that city bylaw enforcement responded to in 2012, according to information presented to city council.
The City’s director of infrastructure and sustainability, Kevin Henderson, gave a report to council about the number of complaints that city bylaw officials received over 2012. With more than 500 complaints received by the City this year, 140 of them were related to parking.
Dawson Creek Mayor Mike Bernier said he was not surprised by this statistic.
“I think that’s typical when you look at maybe the pet peeves of the people,” he said. “It’s one of the biggest things that bylaw does, the most important part of their job to a lot of people, whether it’s people parked in a handicapped spot, whether it’s people parked illegally in a residential area with a truck.”
In 2011, the parking complaints numbered around 150, while in 2010 there were only around 100.
The next highest reasons for people complaining to city bylaw enforcement were for animal control and tall grass and weeds, complaints for which exceeded 40.
The lowest rated reasons for complaint were related to commercial vehicles, snow and ice, and graffiti. According to the information, no one reported any graffiti complaints to bylaw enforcement in 2012.
POLICE, FIREFIGHTERS BUSY WITH CAR CRASHES
Police and fire services were largely dealing with poor drivers over the past month, according to their reports they presented to council on Monday.
Dawson Creek RCMP Staff Sgt. Milo MacDonald said that because of poor road conditions, the RCMP were responding to quite a few accidents. Most of these accidents involved property damage, however.
“We can still find (drunk drivers) on a nightly basis, but less than we did before,” he told council.
The Dawson Creek Fire Department also dealt with more motor vehicle incidents than any other type of incidents since December. According to a report prepared by Dawson Creek Fire Chief Gordon Smith, the fire department responded to seven incidents, which took up 10 hours of their staff time, and just over 31 per cent of the incidents the department has dealt with.
“It would be really good if people could slow down,” added the city’s chief administrative officer Jim Chute.
NEW ROLE FOR COUNCILLORS HELPING ORGANIZATIONS
Dawson Creek city council voted on Monday to allow councillors to become official “city liaisons” between an organization and council.
The proposal, first presented by Councillor Charlie Parslow last April, the Mayor will assign certain councillors roles as “City Liaisons” to act as a go-between for community organizations and council. According to a report prepared by the city’s director of corporate administration, Brenda Gintner, the liaison will know what the organization wants to do, and to help the organization understand how to deal with council.
These organizations will be in addition to others already mandated to councillors, including the Peace River Regional District and the Library.
