All of the District of Sechelt council members voted in favour of adopting the Bylaw Notice Enforcement Implementation Bylaw, which will allow fines to be issued for each instance of non-compliance of the Solid Waste Collection, Control and Disposal Bylaw.
The fees range from $100 to $500, depending on which section of the bylaw is not followed, when the fine is paid and how many times the same offense has been committed by that person.
Before adopting the bylaw, council discussed an email received from a member of the public that pointed out “securely closed containers” is not compatible with Sechelt’s direction to keep the bins open for collection. Engineering technician Paul Appelt says the wording is so people do not pile items or overflow the bins. Coun. Eric Scott pointed out a piece of the bylaw that says waste can’t fill within 10 centimetres of the bin's rim.
Coun. Alton Toth said he knows bylaw enforcement uses fines as a last resort and moved the recommendation. After the bylaw was adopted, council directed staff to review Bylaw 598 to reflect current practices.
Council was also unanimous in their support of the Highways and Parking Amendment Bylaw and the Fees and Charges Amendment Bylaw.
At the end of the Aug. 3 meeting, a member of the public posed a question about part of the Highways and Parking Amendment Bylaw to council: “So now that you've successfully foist off the cleaning of ditches and culverts onto us taxpayers, what happens when somebody is unable physically … and they can't afford to hire somebody? Do you people do it for them and then send them a bill?”
Mayor Darnelda Siegers said they would have staff look into it and get back to the question asker.
Earlier in the meeting, Coun. Matt McLean said he’d asked staff about the district’s ability to reach out and charge a property owner for work undertaken, and received an email confirming it can.
