Yard maintenance complaints were the most common occurrence that required a response from Owen Sound’s by-law enforcement officers last year.
A staff report by city clerk Briana Bloomfield on the corporate services committee’s agenda this week provides some information about the types of calls, and overall volume the city’s by-law division handled in 2022.
In all, Owen Sound’s by-law enforcement received nearly 1,200 calls last year. Investigations were initiated for 930 calls, the staff report explains.
More than 22 per cent of the investigations related to yard maintenance complaints. Property standards, traffic, noise and zoning were some other common calls handled by the city’s by-law enforcement team.
Complaints related to encampments continue to increase in Owen Sound, the report explains. Last year, there were 60 active encampments complaints — that’s up from 27 in 2021.
“For police services, they too saw a rise in encampment incidents. In 2022, police services attended approximately 67 incidents whereas in 2021, they attended 43 incidents,” Bloomfield says in the report. “By-law Enforcement has been working in conjunction with the CORE Unit from Owen Sound Police Services to provide a collaborative response to encampments.”
The report says when by-law enforcement is called to an encampment, they attend to notify individuals of the city’s regulations and provide them with contact information for local support agencies such as Grey County Housing, Safe n’ Sound, OSHaRE and the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Owen Sound employs two full-time workers in its by-law division.
*Editor’s note: This story was updated from an earlier version to correct the committee noted.