BONNYVILLE – Starting her new position as the Town of Bonnyville’s new community peace officer (CPO) at the beginning of August, Wanda Tomm has been hard at work re-establishing the municipality’s CPO and bylaw enforcement programs.
Receiving her official appointment to the role of peace officer at the end of September, Tomm has come to the town with 10 years of law enforcement experience.
"I was with the RCMP six years, from 2012 to 2018, where I also spent time as the enhanced position of bylaw officer with the Town of Bonnyville and then took a position with the Municipal District of Bonnyville Public Safety Department for just over four years,” Tomm told council, during her first quarterly CPO report on Nov. 8.
In her new role, Tomm will have the authority to enforce Provincial Acts such as the Traffic Safety Act, Dangerous Dog Act, as well as all municipal bylaws.
Since Tomm has taken over the role of CPO, she has been responsible for aligning the Town’s CPO program with other agencies, setting up an e-ticking system that is expected to be operational in 2023, and focusing on the enforcement of local bylaws.
Reoccurring concerns
“There seems to be significant need for enforcement as it pertains to varying degrees of unsightly properties,” Tomm told council members.
From August until October, Tomm responded to 107 complaints in relation to community standard bylaws, unsightly properties and properties with overgrown grass and weed issues.
The CPO indicated some of complaints are proactive notices based on visible infractions.
“This is one of the most frequent calls for service I have seen since August,” said Tomm. “We have seen overall exceptional compliance.”
After receiving a complaint, Tomm attends and inspects a property, presents a letter to the property owner if required, and then re-inspects the property for compliance.
Another area of concern that sees high volumes of complaints relates to dogs.
In the last three months, Tomm has responded to 83 instances that involved animal control. These calls were related to aggressive dogs, nuisance dogs, dogs at large and abandoned dogs.
“We are working on some ideas [and] some means of encouraging more compliance on licensing of animals. The homeowner letters have served as education on the bylaws and seemed to be resulting in a relatively good compliance rate,” noted Tomm.
Orange door knocker campaign
As a means to further educate the public and provide warnings of bylaw infractions, the CPO program is re-introducing the orange door knocker campaign.
The campaign can be used as a tool to warn residents of bylaw infractions. Warnings for things such as overgrown grass and weeds, trailers that are unattached to a vehicle that are parked on public streets, and issues involving misuse of garbage bins will be given without issuing fines, following the first complaint.
“Overall, we have estimated an 85-90 per cent compliance rate,” Tomm told council members. “This campaign works to educate on the various bylaws that residents may not necessarily be aware of, and it has been for the most part proactive in nature.”
Out of 193 complaints and proactive notices, the CPO has only issued 40 bylaw tickets.
Following the quarterly report, Mayor Elisa Brosseau said, “I think it's not only good for us, but it's good for the public to see... I know there are some residents who look for that enforcement. There are unsightly properties, and this gives them a good indication of where you've been focusing your time and I like to hear that you're getting good compliance rates.”
Brosseau also thanked the new CPO for spearheading a Dog Care Package program for stray dogs that provides food and other items to residents who house dogs that cannot be housed at the local SPCA immediately.
“So many times, I get phone calls from residents saying, ‘We have this dog, the SPCA isn't open. I don't know who to call. I don't know what to do.’ So, what a creative thing to put together for those people,” explained the mayor.
