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The City of Prince Albert’s Bylaw Enforcement team is reporting strong progress in the first seven months as a municipally operated unit. The primary responsibility of the Unit was shifted back to the City of Prince Albert from the Police Service in 2020 with the new unit reporting to the Department of Planning and Development Services under the City’s operations at City Hall.
Three full time officers are now hired, trained and on the job responding to violations. Since October 856 bylaw complaints were logged into a new real-time, map based reporting system. 745 of these complaints have been resolved and 111 are in active compliance with enforcement processes initiated.
According to the data collected, the top three issues that concerns residents, which account for approximately 75% of complaints are:
- Messy yards;
- Boarded up houses; and
- Traffic related issues, particularly around parking.
Early successes have been experienced in the area of boarded-up houses with 5 demolished since the transition last year and several more targeted for 2021.
“There was a tremendous learning curve over the last seven months so I’m pleased we are set-up and fully operational with a reliable tracking system and officers out there actively responding to violations,” said Craig Guidinger, Director of Planning and Development Services. “We were fortunate to have the full support of the Police Service throughout the process and particularly Suzie Stubbs, the former Bylaw Manager, who worked closely with us to ensure a successful transition.”
The next steps for the Unit will be to focus on the efficiency of response.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us to not just respond but respond as efficiently as possible,” said Guidinger.
To achieve this, the immediate next steps for the department will be to focus on:
- Reducing the time between when a complaint is logged and when compliance is achieved; and
- Targeting the issues the data shows are of greatest concern.
“There is still more learning to do as we refine our processes and our officers identify the most effective path to compliance,” said Guidinger. “I’m optimistic about what we can achieve given the strong progress of the first few months.”
Residents that would like to report a bylaw violation are encouraged to use the confidential online form at www.citypa.ca/bylaw-violation. Violations can also be reported by calling (306) 953-4370.
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For media inquiries, please contact:
Craig Guidinger
Director, Planning and Development Services
(306) 953-4370
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