Roberts enjoying new role as Valley Waste bylaw enforcement officer
It may not be the first job that comes to people’s minds when they think about what a city or town can or cannot go without, but being the Valley Waste bylaw enforcement officer could arguably be one of the most important.
Valley Waste is an intermunicipal organization that works for a whole bunch of different municipalities such as Kentville, Wolfville, Berwick, Middleton and Annapolis Royal.
Dale Roberts was appointed the new Valley Waste bylaw enforcement officer in late November 2020 and has worked for Valley Waste for 12 years.
Previously, Roberts worked for Valley Waste as the curbside inspector for five years, was a residential coordinator and finally was the industrial commercial and institutional coordinator before being hired in his new position.
When Roberts saw the job posting for what is now his new job, he decided to take a chance and throw his application in.
“It seemed interesting. I had filled in when the bylaw officer would go on vacation and would help when needed,” said Roberts.
“I was part of the bylaw officer’s organization called ABOA, which is the Atlantic Bylaw Officers Association,” said Roberts. “I was a part of that for most of the time I was a curbside inspector.”
When looking at his application, not only did being part of ABOA worked in his favour but so did the fact that he already had certain training.
“I’d already had enforcement training from the Department of Environment back when I was doing that, so I had a lot of the qualifications,” said Roberts.
Roberts decided to sit down for what would be his sixth job interview with Valley Waste because he was ready for something new.
“It was a challenge I had been doing the ICI coordinator job for about five years … and I felt like I was ready to try something new,” said Roberts.
Another push for Roberts to put his name out there was because COVID-19 had changed the way he was doing his previous job.
“COVID threw a wrench into my other job for a bit, so I was shifted from working primarily in the office and visiting businesses to working with the transfer station, which is a more manual labour kind of job,” said Roberts.
“I enjoyed it. I liked the fact that it was a change, so I was willing to try something that was even more of a change,” he continued.
Another draw for Roberts was that in the new position he would be able to spend time outside.
“It was still a position where I’d still be able to go out and see the countryside as I’m doing my job and be outdoors,” said Roberts
In his new position, Roberts deals with lots of complaints and findings from residents of the municipalities in Kings County.
“For example, if someone sees a couch or garbage in the woods or along the road somewhere, they can call Valley Waste and quite often it will be me who goes out there to see if I can find out who did it and get them to clean it up or clean it myself,” said Roberts.
“We deal with other issues like illegal burning of waste, storage issues, the accumulation of waste and if businesses or people aren’t sorting (their rubbish and recyclables) properly,” he continued.
One of Roberts’s favourite parts of his new position is all the new people he has gotten to meet.
“I like meeting all the different bylaw officers from the various municipalities who cover similar territory to me in a way,” said Roberts.
“It’s been nice meeting them and going around to different sites with them … I’ve only been at this for a few months so it’s nice to have those connections ... one even started the exact same time I did,” he continued.
People may be surprised to know that everyone has been cordial with Roberts when he has to go out on a call.
“Everybody has still been pretty friendly even though I’m basically calling them to try to get them to do something,” said Roberts. “Usually, the property owners or managers are reasonable and compliant and often thank me for the information,”