The Town of Drayton Valley is bringing the bylaws governing their bylaw enforcement officers up to code.
The new bylaw was presented to Drayton Valley town council at their March 23 meeting.
The new bylaw defines the duties and powers of the bylaw enforcement officer. It also establishes a code of conduct and disciplinary measures. According to administration, Drayton’s original bylaws on these matters were rather vague, and the new ones are said to offer clearer definitions.
Some members of council, however, did have issues with it.
Councillor Bill Ballas felt the new bylaw gave too much power to the Town’s CAO. Under the bylaw, the CAO would both be the disciplinary officer and handle appeals if their disciplinary measures were felt to be too harsh.
Administration clarified, there are workarounds. The CAO should, ideally, according to Town officials, delegate the disciplinary matters to someone else in administration, while the CAO would only handles appeals. In the situation where the CAO handles both disciplinary matters and appeals, then the bylaw enforcement officer can take their appeal to the Provincial ombudsman.
Councillor Tom McGee wanted a bit more of a description as to what the new bylaws would do.
Administration replied, it moves some of the administrative duties from town council to administration. For example, when a new bylaw enforcement officer is hired, the new officer must appear before council, so council can officially appoint them to the position. Currently, administration can just hire them.
Council passed first reading of the new bylaw. It is now available on the Town of Drayton Valley website for public feedback before moving on to second and third readings.
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