BARRHEAD - Business for the County of Barrhead's new enforcement services is good, so good that the municipality may consider the addition of another community peace officer (CPO) in the near future.
Deputy reeve Marvin Schatz asked during Feb. 18's council meeting at what point the municipality should consider hiring an additional CPO.
At the meeting, the County of Barrhead's lone CPO, Shae Guy, gave his Enforcement Services Department 2024 year-end report.
He stated in his report that he drove 41,655 km and opened 1,363 files, including 309 resident complaints and 1,054 that were self-generated or violations he witnessed.
Of the resident bylaw complaints, Guy said that 96 per cent were resolved without issuing tickets.
“We definitely take an education-first approach,” he said.
Guy joined the municipality in December 2023 to head the department. Before that, the municipality contracted out the service to other municipalities, the latest being Lac Ste. Anne County and Morinville.
The municipality started investigating taking over its own enforcement services after Lac Ste. Anne County increased its fee to provide the service to the point where it rivalled creating its own Enforcement Services department.
County manager Debbie Oyarzun said it is something she and Guy have discussed.
"We have a draft analysis to make a business case for it," she said. "There are other factors to look at, such as providing contract services to other jurisdictions to offset some of the costs of adding another officer. It is getting close."
She added they knew that there would be a backlog of files that Guy would have to deal with when the county took over the service, but she said while the backlog has lessened, they are still at the point where they need to prioritize files and it takes some time before a file makes its way to the top of the list.
Oyarzun said she expects the analysis to be ready to be presented to the council later this year.
Files by Division
Guy said most of the files come from Division 3, at 453, primarily attributed to the number of roads, followed by Division 4 and Division 1, at 242 and 191, respectively.
He attributed the higher number of files in Division 3 to the large number of roads, while Divisions 1 and 4 are due to the large influx of seasonal residents in the summer.
Division 4 includes Thunder Lake, while Division 1 includes the subdivisions near Lac La Nonne.
Coun. Bill Lane asked if the number of complaints in his division (Division 4) had to do with that there were due to traffic infractions on Highway 18.
He said the stop signs at Highway 18 and Highway 763 intersections were especially problematic.
“They don’t want to stop. Then there is the 80 km/h zone by Campsie that no one slows down for,” Lane said.
Guy said it was definitely a factor.
“It is about 50-50 between [traffic offences] and complaints from the Thunder Lake area,” he said.
Files by type
Animal complaints led the way at 89, most of which were about Animal Control Bylaw violations (74). There were also six dangerous dog files.
Coun. Walter Preugschas asked how many of the Animal Control Act files involved dogs.
“The overwhelming majority are dog complaints,” Guy said. “There maybe three were something else, like complaints about chickens.”
The next highest category was when the CPO was called upon to assist the RCMP at 62. He also assisted Barrhead Regional Fire Services and ambulance personnel on 49 occasions. He also responded to 10 motor vehicle collisions and assisted other municipal departments on 61 occasions.
Guy opened 55 school patrol or event-related files, such as speeding through a school zone or school bus fly-bys. Reports of Land-use Bylaw violations accounted for another 30 files, followed by 29 Public Reserve and Traffic Bylaw complaints at 36, including 13 vehicles failing to stop and four vehicle seizures or tows.
On the bottom end of the created files were offences under various provincial legislation, including the Trespass to Premises Act, Highway Development Protection Act, Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Act, Environmental Protection Actand impaired driving at 21, 7, 7, 6, and 4.
Traffic enforcement
Guy issued 1,248 tickets or warnings in the traffic enforcement category, accounting for $203,733 of revenue and $183,249 in warnings.
The municipality only receives 60 per cent of traffic revenue.
Speeding accounted for most of the tickets and warnings at 841, including 800 for general speeding and 41 for speeding in a school or construction zone or speeding past emergency vehicles. A few of the more egregious speeding examples included going 182 km/h in a 100 km/h zone, 151 km/h in a 90 km/h zone, 143 km/h in an 80 km/h zone, 104 km/h in a 50 km/h construction zone and 107 km/h in a 30 km/h school zone.
Guy also issued 188 tickets or warnings on general rules of the road violations, 153 paper violations for things such as having no insurance and registration, 59 commercial violations and seven offences related to county bylaws.
Of the 59 commercial violations, 11 were for overweight vehicles, amounting to $43,500 in fines and warnings issued.
“It has been a priority for us, especially in the later half of the year when we had access to portable weight scales,” Guy said. ”We do have road bans and infrastructure enforcement because they impact how long our roads last and their condition, saving money for taxpayers.”
Traffic safety around schools
Guy said the county continues to work with schools and parent councils to increase the safety around schools by reducing bus fly-bys and speeding through school zones.
He noted that in 2024, 34 charges were laid in school bus fly-by incidents.
"There have been a few close calls," Guy said. “There were two school buses [or their extendable arms]. Another kid in early December or January had to be grabbed off the highway as a car approached them."
He added the municipality is also working to improve school zone signage, saying they've made good progress in the areas around the schools in Neerlandia, but Dunstable School remains an issue.
Guy said, unlike the schools in Neerlandia, where the roads around the schools are the county's jurisdiction, Dunstable is on Highway 651, requiring the province's permission for any changes to signage.
Lane said Rich Valley Elementary School somehow got Alberta Transportation to add to digital school zone speed signs.
“And they work great,” he said.
The speed limit for the Rich Valley School zone is 70 km/h compared to 30 km/h at Dunstable.
Guy argued that they didn’t, saying Alberta Sheriffs cannot conduct any enforcement in the school zone as it doesn’t meet Alberta Transportation requirements.
“Great for drivers, but not so great for safety,” he said, adding he had a meeting with Alberta Transportation soon in which he hoped to discuss how they could improve the school zone signage surrounding Dunstable.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
