Bylaw call volume not 'sustainable,' says department head

The number of complaints coming into Ottawa's bylaw department is risingso steadilythat its director says officers are struggling to do properinvestigations and meet their expected response times.

Roger Chapman, the city's director of bylaw and regulatory services, said the increase is tied to the fact both human and pet populations are growing while council is passing new bylaws that need to be enforced.

Last year, there were13,510 pandemic-relatedcallsfor officers to patrolparks, crack down on large gatherings,and enforcethe mandatory mask bylaw.

The city was able to redirect officers fromtasks like giving parking tickets as so few people were parking on city streets last year to do that work.

• Loud music, bad lawns and lots of rats: Bylaw complaints soar during pandemic

In many municipalities, an individual bylaw officer deals withbetween 400 and 600 calls per year, Chapmantold the community and protective services committee Thursday.

And whileOttawa officers can likely handle more than that, they're currently facing about 900 calls each and that's simply too many, Chapman said.

"Nine-hundred service requests per officer is not sustainable," Chapman told councillors Thursday as he presented his department's annual reports for2019 and 2020.

Councillorscall fornew hires

Over the past five years, the department's calls for service have increased 32.8 per cent, to 95,445 calls last year, Chapman said.

While that's down slightly from 2019, Chapman said the drop is due to not enforcing on-street parking time limits in residential areas.

In addition to issuing tickets and handling COVID-19 calls, bylaw officers alsoinvestigate complaints aboutproperty standards, noise, sick or injured animalsand more.

Councillors on the committee were sympathetic to the increased call volumes, acknowledgingthey depend on bylaw officers to quickly respond to issues in their wards.

"Bylaws really aren't worth the paper they're written on unless they're enforced," said Coun. Diane Deans.

Coun. Mathieu Fleury tabled a motion, which received unanimous approval, to ask finance staff to find money in the next municipal budget for new hires to reduce the average number of calls each officerhandles.

Overall, the bylaw and regulatory servicesdepartment has 181 full-time positions.That includes63 enforcement officers who respond to calls seven days a week, along with other staff who administer such services aspet registrations andtaxi licences.

Chapman said thestaff count has remained the samesince 2018.

Chapman said the department has tried to become more efficient by using data analytics, educating the public to prevent noise-related complaints,and prioritizing more serious calls.