RM mayor, crew taken to court

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This article was published 19/08/2010 (5707 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Lockport man accused of being a junk hoarder has hired a prominent criminal lawyer in his bid to keep the mayor of St. Clements and a cleanup crew off his property.

Henderson Highway resident Gerald Zucawich recently retained lawyer Jay Prober for a private prosecution case against Rural Municipality of St. Clements Mayor Steve Strang, the cleanup contractor and two municipal bylaw officers for theft, trespassing and mischief.

Prober said the municipality’s attempt to get Zucawich’s junk-cluttered yard cleaned up was heavy-handed and done without the proper court documents.

"They actually came in with more authority than a police officer with a search warrant," Prober said. "The Supreme Court has said normally, when police have a search warrant, they have to knock first. Only when there is a danger to an officer or threat of evidence being destroyed can they enter unannounced.

"I feel very strongly that Mr. Zucawich was wronged here."

Prober said municipal staff entered Zucawich’s property with a Bobcat loader and began removing items from the yard without knocking and without a court order giving them the authority to do so.

In St. Clements, the municipality can order residents to clean up their yards under the Unsightly Premises Bylaw once complaints from neighbours are confirmed. The resident is then given a deadline to comply before the municipality issues another order that alerts the resident a crew contracted by the municipality will clean up the property. The cost of cleanup is passed on to residents through tax bills.

If a resident demands the crew leave or refuses to co-operate with cleanup efforts, the municipality must go to the Court of Queen’s Bench to get a judge to sign off on a court order to allow the municipality to complete the work.

Prober said Zucawich never gave the municipality permission to be on his property and was never served with a court order.

He said Zucawich also claims the Bobcat knocked down a fence to get access to his property and some of his possessions were removed by the crew before he told workers to leave.

Zucawich was unavailable for comment. His yard contains stacks of wooden pallets, an old bulldozer, oil drums, bicycles and scrap metal. A makeshift gate blocks access to the front of the home and signs warn trespassers they will be prosecuted.

"He’s been harassed by the municipality before," Prober said.

The lawyer added his client wants the Crown to prosecute Strang because he issued the order for the cleanup crew to go onto the property.

"The attorney general could take it over if they thought it was egregious enough," Prober said.

Strang was on vacation and unavailable for comment.

Prober said the case is back in court Sept. 20.

Zucawich will also be in court Aug. 25 to fight the municipality’s application for a judge’s order allowing the RM to clean up his yard.

Strang recently asked the province to amend the Municipal Act so municipalities can get a cleanup order from a magistrate, rather than having to go to court to get a judge’s signature.

The mayor has said that would cut down on the time and cost of cleaning up messy properties.

Strang’s request came after the municipality seized 64 neglected dogs from a property in Gull Lake in mid-July.

About half of the animals had to be euthanized. The RM now wants to demolish the buildings the dogs were found in because they are structurally unsafe.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca