It's clear from the Prairie Bylaw Enforcement Services report that was submitted to city council Sept. 21 that its officers in the city are working hard to ensure city bylaws are enforced.
Prairie Bylaw, an agency based out of Tyndall, Man., came to Thompson in November 2007. Dave Prud'Homme, owner of the agency, was present at the last city council meeting to present the mayor and councillors with a report that looked at statistics from the start of this year to Sept. 10.
In the report, there were a total of 341 notices opened and 300 closed relating to property standards infractions, including issues like garbage, noxious weeds, derelict buildings, graffiti, liquor, various parking infractions and more.
In another table of statistics in the report, again from January to Sept. 10, the highest number of bylaw offences included 127 infractions for illegal handicap parking; 110 infractions where people parked in no-parking zones; 94 charges of being drunk and disorderly and more; and 109 cases of loitering, failing to park, traffic infractions, fighting, snow clearing and street cleaning infractions, parking infractions and a house not having a number on it.
Bylaw officers dealt with a low of 183 open liquor infractions in January to a high of 1,092 in August. Incidents such as open liquor, loitering and disturbances were highest in June and August and lowest in January and February.
According to Prud'Homme, since Prairie Bylaw Enforcement has been in the City of Thompson, there has been a reduction in the workload strain on RCMP officers as well as fewer infractions in general.
"It certainly has made a difference in public safety, and I think the quality of life for individuals - for people in the City of Thompson and visitors," he explains. "You just need to look at how much alcohol we're able to dump and the fights that we're able to break up and the property standards issues we're able to address."
Prud'Homme goes on to say that it's thanks to the dedication and proactive nature of city council and help from organizations like the Thompson Homeless Shelter that enforcement of bylaws has been so successful in the city.
Mayor Tim Johnston says that he's glad to see the numbers of infractions that the bylaw officers are taking care of, because it means they're being dealt with.
"I think that's were we have to remain proactive. We have to remain committed to working on our behaviours in the continued successful, passionate manner that we have done."
Johnston also pointed out the great co-operation between the bylaw officers and the Thompson RCMP.
