North Frontenac to review complaints oriented safe properties and noise bylaws

Craig Bakay | Jan 22, 2020

North Frontenac put the brakes on changes to its Safe Property and Noise bylaws made by its solicitor at its regular meeting last Friday in Plevna.

Coming on the heals of a discussion where CAO Cheryl Robson reported that complaints are up to 49 so far this year, compared with 16 last year, Coun. Fred Fowler said he has been getting complaints about the bylaws leading to those complaints.

“I’ve been getting a lot of complaints, less than 10 but a lot more than I thought I’d be getting, about how unfriendly we are,” Fowler, who retired after an extensive career in may facets of law enforcement. “These are absolute liability offences, meaning that even if you have a good excuse, that doesn’t matter.”

Robson said that most of the complaints are the result of a bylaw and are “black or white.”

“I agree with you Fred,” said Coun. John Inglis. “But our complaints are complaint driven.

“Some of the bylaws today just make my eyes roll.

“For example, the safe properties bylaw says grass must be under 15 cm.

“And the noise bylaw uses the word ‘reasonable.’ What does that mean?”

“I think we all agree that there’s some ridiculous content in these bylaws,” said Mayor Ron Higgins.

Inglis suggested a committee made up of Higgins, Robson and Fowler take a look at these bylaws.

“This is a good idea to slow these down,” said Robson. “Some things are legislation that has to be in there but some things are your discretion.”

“I think we’ve rushed through bylaws in the past,” Higgins said. “Because we haven’t realized the implications until later.”

Robson said that the lawyers often include sections aimed at reducing liability risk for the municipality.

“As soon as you start reducing risk, you’re perceived as unfriendly,” said Inglis. “(But) you cannot get zero risk.”

Efficiency?

An “efficiency study” contracted for by North Frontenac Township and completed by SP Maloney Corp didn’t sit too well with at least one member of Council.

“I think we wasted $6,850 to tell us what we were already aware of,” said Coun. Vernon Hermer. “It was an organizational drag with lengthy meetings and unnecessary emails.

“(The study) just added to inefficiency with all those interviews.”

“Yeah, we learned a lesson on this one,” said Mayor Ron Higgins. “I’ll leave it at that.”