HomeMy WebLinkAboutCD-13-95 THE CORPORATION OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF CLARINGTON
REPORT
Meeting: General Purpose and Administration Committee File#
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Date: Monday, March 20, 1995 Res. #-C 7-)_J -
Report#: CD-13-95— File#: By-Law# —_
Subject: 'YEAR END ACTIVITY REPORT OF THE BY-LAW DIVISION FOR 1994.
Recommendations:
It is respectfully recommended that the General Purpose and
Administration Committee recommend to Council the following:
1. THAT Report CD-13-95 be received for information.
BACKGROUND
The By-law Enforcement Division is composed of two Municipal Law
Enforcement Officers, one full time and one part time Parking
officer. In the routine course of their enforcement duties staff
must be conversant with more than forty municipal licensing and
regulatory by-laws. The officers are responsible for the
enforcement of Regional Tree and Weed By-laws, the administration
of the First Attendance Parking Facility for contested parking
tickets, the administration of, the Line Fences Act and researching
and preparing various by-laws and reports for Council. Staff also
provide instruction to various Departments regarding legal
procedures as well as coordination of all documents and material
required for court.
The following tables indicate the number of files investigated by
staff in 1994 and the two preceding years . These do not reflect the
time spent on routine inquiries regarding by-laws especially those
pertaining to fencing, hunting, home occupations and business
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licensing. These routine inquiries account for a major portion of
the officers ' time.
TABLE 1
ALL FILES
YEAR FILES CARRY-OVER FROM TOTAL CLOSED IN CARRY-OVER %
OPENED PREVIOUS YEAR FILES THAT YEAR TO NEXT YEAR CLOSED
1994 563 180 743 511 232 68.8%
*292
**65
1993 609 187 796 616 180 77 .3%
1992 617 247 864 677 187 78. 3%
* The recording system changed in 1994 . Routine snow removal
complaints were no longer listed as separate files as they had
been in previous years.
** Also not included are approximately 65 weed complaints which
originated with the Region. Regardless of the source each weed
complaint required approximately thirty minutes of the
officer's time to obtain the necessary information for the
Weed Inspector.
The table also does not include fifty First Attendance Parking
Hearings which were conducted pursuant to the requirements of
Bill 47 .
TABLE 2
ZONING, WASTE MATERIAL, PROPERTY STANDARDS
YEAR FILES CARRY-OVER FROM TOTAL CLOSED IN CARRY-OVER TO %
OPENED PREVIOUS YEAR FILES THAT YEAR NEXT YEAR CLOSED
1994* 218 143 361 187 174 51.8%
1993 280 125 405 262 143 64 .7%
1992 280 152 432 307 125 _ 71. 1%J1
* In 1994 staff began to strictly adhere to the requirement of
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the Property Standards By-law that a complaint must be in writing.
This has accounted for a slight decrease in less serious or
frivolous complaints.
It becomes apparent from both Tables that the overall closing rate
for the Division has steadily decreased. Experience has shown that
Property Standards, Zoning and Waste Material files can take more
than a year to resolve. Table # 2 highlights the fact that the
Division has reached the point where it can only resolve 51.8% of
the files in these major categories . This rate is less than the
overall annual average. The carry over of major files creates a
backlog which exceeds staff's ability to effectively deal with
them.
Respectfully submitted, Reviewed by,
Patti L. ri` ; M.C.T. W. H. Stockwell
Town Clerk Chief Administrative
Officer
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