A Penetanguishene councillor wants staff to draw out a timeline to be included in the new graffiti removal policy.
"I congratulate Andrea (Betty) for the report on the graffiti policy," Coun. Brian Cummings said at a recent meeting. "But the problem I still have is that our Municipal Law Enforcement (MLE) policy and procedure manual has no timelines in it. We can do whatever we want to make these bylaws, but we have no timelines involved in correcting the graffiti or any of our bylaws.
"I did ask for a timeline to remove graffiti, because it's very important that it gets removed immediately so it doesn't encourage more graffiti in town," he added.
Betty, director of planning and community development, said the policy for the bylaw enforcement department does not have timelines, however, the property standards bylaw has some strict standards and rules.
"There are some timelines for the removal of graffiti once the notice has been given from the town," she said, not specifying what the timelines were, and later admitting it requires clarity. "Each occurrence and complaint can vary and rely on outside sources."
Having said that, Betty added that staff could take a look at that policy procedure on that bylaw, since it's about eight years old and worth a review.
"We should have some sort of timeline on this," said Cummings. "I agree with the procedure, but there should be a timeline to the procedure."
A quick look at the MLE policy and procedures document available online shows there are no timelines around notices of contravention issued under bylaw.
CAO Jeff Lees said it would be useful to refer the item for review.
