Bylaw officers added to relieve shortage
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/09/2022 (1261 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The City of Brandon recently lost one-third of its bylaw officers, but won’t have to wait long before replacements arrive.
At Tuesday’s city council meeting, Coun. Kris Desjarlais (Rosser) said he’d heard several times over the summer that the city’s bylaw department — under the purview of Brandon Police Service — has been so short-staffed to the point where there was only one officer on hand.
The city’s bylaw officers handle animal control, parking and bylaw enforcement, process serving along with picking up abandoned bicycles and other assorted duties.
Answering on behalf of BPS Chief Wayne Balcaen, general manager of corporate services Dean Hammond said there is frequently only one bylaw officer on duty on weekends to handle animal control, and there are occasional other instances of low staffing due to leaves of absence, illness or training.
However, two bylaw officers from the city’s regular complement of six recently left — one due to retirement, the other for another employment opportunity.
“This may have been the cause for lower-than-normal staffing levels recently,” Hammond said. “BPS has hired for these vacancies with a start date of Sept. 12 of this year. After that, BPS will be back up to regular police board-approved levels of staffing of our bylaw section.”
The police board is currently in talks with BPS over staffing levels required for a more active approach to its duties and this will be reflected in the department’s budget requests for the 2023 fiscal year, Hammond said.
Speaking to the Sun on Wednesday, BPS Sgt. Kirby Sararas, the acting staff sergeant for the bylaw department, said only one bylaw officer is needed on weekends as parking and process serving isn’t required on those days, only animal control.
“That being said, police can respond if there’s an urgent nature,” she said.
She added that it has only been a matter of days since the service has been operating under its six-person cap for bylaw officers.
» cslark@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @ColinSlark