Council looking to give bylaw more authority

Penticton city council is expected to overwhelmingly support three new bylaws at today’s regular meeting that will give bylaw enforcement and community safety officers more authority to improve public safety in and around Penticton.

Establishing clear public behaviour expectations and increasing enforcement authority for bylaw and community safety officers are part of a package being presented to council.

Council has made a concerted effort over the past several years to increase resources through the addition of more police officers, more firefighters and expanding the community safety officers programs, said Blake Laven, the city’s director of development services, during a press conference held Friday at City Hall.

These latest initiatives, which have been worked on for more than a year, build on the work already done, Laven said.

City staff is now looking for council to approve a series of improvements to set out what is acceptable and safe behaviour for residents and visitors and providing bylaw and community safety officers with additional tools to enforce these standards and enhance community safety, said Laven.

Establishing the Community Safety Officer program was designed to allow RCMP officers to focus on “more serious” matters, said Laven.

Latest statistics show bylaw services received more than 7,000 calls for service in 2022 and many of these calls might have otherwise gone to RCMP, who saw their 17,305 calls for service in 2021 reduced by 500 in 2022.

“This is a massive increase over the past five years,” he said. “This is really what the city and council is trying to address with some of these initiatives.”

The newest initiatives being proposed to equip bylaw and community safety officers with greater tools to address public nuisance and disorder calls, include three new initiatives, said Laven.

They include:

• A Safe Public Places Bylaw that establishes community standards with the intent of creating a safe, inclusive community where all members feel welcome and safe.

• A proposal to designate bylaw enforcement and community safety officers as recognized peace officers, which gives additional authority and provides greater protection to bylaw officers.

• A bylaw and community safety officer procedure policy that identifies progressive steps for officers to follow when interacting with individuals suspected to be in breach of municipal bylaws.

The goal is to ensure that all community members feel safe, including those struggling with addiction issues and these initiatives are intended to work with and supplement other initiatives addressing addictions in the community, said Laven.

The city will also continue to advocate for more resources to help those in need, he said.

The province is very clear that municipalities have the right to regulate what happens in public spaces and the City wants to find that balance.

The bylaw covers everything from citizens soliciting at ATMs and drive-thru restaurants to pubic nudity, public urination and taking over of public spaces where these spaces are not being used as intended, he said.

So-called nuisance complaints by citizens, such as people sleeping in doorways, panhandling and citizens taking over public washrooms, are currently not covered by any municipal bylaw, said Laven.

“We’re putting our officers in a difficult spot having to respond to these calls,” he said. “I should note that if you go to any larger urban center, these bylaws exist. We’re not creating anything new here. It’s new to Penticton.”

Business owners and members of the public want quick response, but bylaw and community safety officers currently don’t have the legal authority, in most cases, to take action, he said.

“The public wants response to these issues,” he said. “We don’t currently have the authority or bylaws to respond to it.”

A recent comprehensive Community Safety Resource Review clearly indicated bylaw and community safety officers need more tools and authority to deal with numerous issues happening on a daily basis, he said.

“They need greater authority to do the work they’re being asked to do,” he said. “We’re still lacking in the community authority to respond to these calls.”

The reality is “bigger city problems” are now commonplace in Penticton and those on the front lines need the authority and support to tackle these issues in a safe, responsible manner, said Laven.

Virtually every city in B.C. with a population over 75,000 has bylaws in place to deal with issues like public intoxication, illegal camping and panhandling, but smaller cities like Penticton don’t, he said.

“We don’t have that in Penticton currently because we’ve never really had to in the past,” Laven said.

The new bylaws will also address the “inter-operability” between bylaw and RCMP, ensuring police still deal with more serious issues where criminal behaviour is involved, he said.

A long-term goal to make designated bylaw and community safety officers “special constables” with even more authority is part of this current process, said Laven.

All three proposed bylaws will focus on voluntary compliance and accessing community supports for local residents involved in contravening bylaws, he said.

Penticton is believed to be the first small city in the province to introduce bylaws of this nature giving bylaw and community safety officers more authority, said Laven.

“Many other (smaller) municipalities are looking at similar legislative changes.”

The provincial government recently passed a law allowing for possession of small amounts of controlled substances and the new bylaws do have prohibitions for where such substances can be used and drug paraphernalia can be displayed.

“It does prohibit it in public areas and visible to public areas,” he said. “In Penticton, these are areas that will be acceptable to use and these are areas not acceptable to use.”

Tina Mercier, the city’s manager of bylaw services, said the city’s crew of close to 20 full and part-time bylaw and community safety officers are undergoing extensive training to integrate their new authority as quickly and easily as possible.

“We do have a very robust training program,” she said. “There is a whole bunch of programs and classes and online courses … the officers are taking.”

Public feedback will take place on the city’s Shape Your City portal over the next several weeks to collect ideas and they will be included in a final report in May or June for council to consider before officially adopting the bylaws, said Laven.

“This is long overdue and something we are bringing forward and something we’re hoping will be supported by council,” he said.

The increased number of transients and people using drugs has made bylaw enforcement more difficult with each passing year, but training and improving the working relationship with RCMP should result in a safer community for all residents, said Mercier.

“There is a level of unpredictability, so there is more risk,” she said.

That’s why we have to make sure we are being safe … making sure we’re the right people to respond rather than police. We require the additional training for our team so we can ensure we’re safe responding.

There is more inherent risk, which is a sign of the times, but that’s not more prolific in Penticton than it would be anywhere else.”

Today’s regular meeting of council begins at 1 p.m. at City Hall and can be watched in person or online at: penticton.ca.

Other items on today’s agenda include a development variance permit for 1151 Kensington Street, discussion on the Okanagan Correctional Centre and approval for the point intersection and roundabout at Galt Avenue, which has now ballooned in price to $10.5 million.