City of Powell River Council will consider a new bylaw offense adjudication system.
At the January 21 committee of the whole meeting, councillors reviewed a report from fire chief Martin Drakeley, which outlined the municipal ticket information (MTI) system which is currently in use by the city. His report stated that the system enables prosecution by local governments for minor to medium contraventions of local government bylaws.
According to the report, tickets are required to be served in person, and when they are challenged, staff must attend hearings at provincial court, which can be costly and take staff away from core duties. The MTI system would still be used for higher-level infractions that produce fines up to $10,000, the report stated.
“The MTI system has proven to be cumbersome and time-consuming for city bylaw officers and administrative staff,” stated Drakeley. “To improve efficiency, many local governments have switched from the MTI system to the bylaw notice enforcement system to ease the strain and complexity on officers and the courts.”
City chief administrative officer Lisa Bhopalsingh said at the committee meeting that this transition is something the bylaw enforcement team has been wanting to see addressed for some time.
“It’s basically a way of more effectively dealing with bylaw infractions and the processing of tickets, and the use of staff time involved in small to minor offenses in terms of court time,” said Bhopalsingh.
Drakeley said the new system would provide bylaw enforcement officers with an additional simpler tool to enforce bylaw offenses. He said it does set maximum limits for tickets at the $500 mark.
“The dispute system itself, once it is implemented, requires the application of screening officers,” said Drakeley “Those are usually myself or another director in charge of the bylaws in their department. When a complaint or argument is made for the ticket that has been provided, they bring it to the director, who reviews the bylaw officer’s file, along with the complaint from the person who received the ticket. It is adjudicated right on the spot.
“The person committing the offense also has the ability to go to an attorney general-appointed adjudicator to hear the offenses. If we are successful, the fine is levied. If it’s negated, the offense is put to bed at that point.”
The committee voted that the bylaw office adjudication system be referred to a regular council meeting.
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