Curbing garbage infractions

In a report recently submitted to City Council’s Safety, Utilities and Environment standing committee, Director General Bruce St. Louis said the problem with providing a consistent level of garbage inspection arose from the fact that three City departments are involved, but their coordination and follow-up of inspections needed improvements.

He therefore recommended that a part-time inspector be hired to focus on both the residential and commercial sectors. The inspector’s job involves observation, giving out written notices and providing an analysis of the situation in preparation for a revised City garbage policy in 2007.

According to Mayor Karin Marks, there were a number of different locations where the City had problems with garbage disposal prior to hiring the inspector.

“It’s a matter of being out in the streets and going around particularly to the areas where there are problems,� she said, adding that large apartment or commercial buildings next to residential areas have been especially troublesome.

Marks said that sometimes in order to prepare for garbage pickup by the City, the owners or administrators of such buildings have been putting their garbage out a day early. “And that’s a problem, because if you’ve got animals who get into it, it can create a real mess,� she said.

“So it’s a matter of going around and making sure that garbage is put out when it’s supposed to be put out. But those people who should be having their own garbage

pickup—which is the case for some of the commercial places—have proper bins that are closed outside. It’s all of that.�

Marks said the new garbage inspector will be able to hand out tickets. For a number of years now, employees of Westmount Public Works and other departments have been empowered, like Public Security Officers, to issue infraction notices to persons observed violating the City’s bylaws.

Over the past year, at least one resident has approached City Council to complain that the cleanliness of Westmount’s streets was threatened because of inadequate enforcement of the rules for placing garbage on the curbside to be picked up.

Last July, Dorothy Lipovenko said an increasing number of people in Westmount were putting their garbage out the night before pickup, or even earlier, instead of in the morning as stipulated in the garbage bylaw. She also said that the responsibility for reporting bylaw violators should not be with residents.

“In the same way that you would not expect citizens of Westmount to patrol streets looking for cars that are illegally parked, I don’t think the expectation should be that citizens should be calling this in,� said Lipovenko. “Because if it was that way, we’d be on the phone constantly.�