Cobourg News Blog

At the Community Services, Protection, and Economic Development Standing Committee meeting on  February 7, Kevin Feagan, (Manager, Municipal Law Enforcement & Licensing Services) presented his annual report – this is the second one for this department.  As mentioned by CAO Tracey Vaughan, KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are being used to measure performance and in the case of this department, they are called “Service Level Agreements” (SLAs).  Apart from Proactive Parking Violations, activity has not changed much from 2022 and SLA performance was not much different.  However, it’s good to see the report. Other departments with annual reports (as far as I know) are Planning, Economic Development and Police (links available in Resources).  As well as By-Law Enforcement, Kevin’s department manages licensing for 16 different items ranging from lotteries, taxis to signs (see full report for a list).

So what does this department do?

Municipal Law Enforcement and Licensing Services is responsible for:

• Investigating by-law complaints involving property, parking, animal and licensing matters;
• Enforcing by-law regulations and standards;
• Achieving resolutions to by-law infractions through voluntary compliance administrative orders, remedial work, administrative penalties or prosecution;
• The administration and inspection of property-related applications including: Pool Enclosures, Signs and Donation Bins;
• Issuing business, lottery licences, pool and sign permits; and
• Educating the public on relevant standards.

Most of the 34 by-laws are enforced reactively but there is also some organized proactive enforcement; two examples: Winter Parking control from November to April and School Zone parking from September to May (see full report Appendix 2: “Targeted Proactive Enforcement Projects”)

The report is comprehensive yet concise so in this case my usual “summaries” would be more accurately called “extracts”.

So here are my “extracts”:

Activities

Note that this report does not include how much money was collected for fees and fines nor any other financial measurements such as the cost of the department.

Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

SLA’s specify how many days are allowed for initial response (mostly 1 to 2 days but some are up to 14 days) and complete resolution (mostly 2 days but one – for zoning – is 120 days).  See the full report in Resources below but here is a report on the performance in 2023 to these targets.

There’s room for improvement but the good news is that they are measuring and reporting on performance.

Staff consists of one manager (Kevin Feagan), 1 Licensing Officer and 3 Full time and 2 Part time Municipal Law Enforcement Officers.

Licensing (selected items)

In addition to all this, the department made a number of administrative changes – see full report (I know, I’ve referenced it already – it’s worth at least a skim read!).

To keep us interested, the report also lists what’s coming in 2024!

Looking Ahead

• Ongoing implementation of Short-term Rental Licensing;
• Ongoing implementation of Vehicle for Hire Licensing;
• Continue to investigate acquisition of enterprise software solution “Amanda” to meet the Town’s needs involving by-law complaints, animal and business licensing workflows;
• Scheduling regular audits of rental buildings to ensure compliance with municipal standards;
• Introduce Municipal Trespass By-law and associated policies and best practices;
• Participate as stakeholder and contributing agency in Eastern Region Regulatory Hub to discuss top of mind issues and commonalities in how regulatory enforcement services are delivered;
• and more!

Resources

• 2023 Municipal Law Enforcement and Licensing Services Annual Report – as frequently referenced above.
• Planning Annual Report – 2022 – Planning & Development Division 2022 Growth Trends Review – 2023 report will be subject of upcoming News Blog report
• Economic Development Annual Report – 2023 – includes Venture 13
• Cobourg Police Services Annual Report – 2022 – (on escribe)

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