It’s been a busy month and a half for Delta bylaws staff as officers have been forced to deal with a new stream of calls due the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hugh Davies, manager of bylaw enforcement, said the pandemic has seen the department answer a variety of new calls while also maintaining city services and its usual calls for service.
Davies said there have been a lot of calls from the public notifying the city of non-compliance issues.
“We’ve had a few nail studios – one in Ladner and two in North Delta – which closed and then we got reports that they were trying to open again,” he said. “We’ve issued a number of warnings; one in Ladner was given a $500 fine. We know these are businesses and their livelihoods are at stake, so we try to deal with it by way of warning in a reasonable manner, but sometimes you have to take further action.
“Luckily most of the businesses have been very compliant and we haven’t had too many issues where we have had to issue fines.”
Davies said there have also been lots of social distancing checks in public spaces such as parks, along the dike and at sport courts and fields.
“There has been lots of that. Where we have seen a need for signage we have done that.” he said. “Skate parks were an issue in the beginning where we would go out and speak with the youth and then they would be back a short while later, so we had to get police involved a bit and it’s not an issue anymore.
“Getting messages out about the need to social distance was a challenge in the beginning, but in general now people have been following the rules.”
He said in March as the orders came out from the provincial health officer, bylaws staff was tasked with different notifications to make.
“For example, there was the order about personal care facilities, gyms, yoga, hair stylists, massage, which are all physical contacts, so we check all the business licences and go to visit all of those establishments and provide them with the notice and the new restrictions,” Davies said. “We also visited all the grocery stores to give them information and give them directions on how to handle social distancing. We recommended the markers on the floors, wiping and sanitizing shopping carts and shopping baskets.”
Davies said on top of all the COVID-19 calls, bylaws officers are still responding to general calls such as animal control and renewing business licences.
“Everyone has a pretty full caseload,” he said. “We have six officers working from about 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day with three on during the day and three at night. It’s been a busy time for sure.”
As the province begins to announce its re-opening plans, Davies said Delta’s bylaws department will assist in any way possible.
“It’s going to be mainly educational, but whatever the order is we will assist the owners of that business to get it in place,” he said. “People are going to be creative, I’m sure, to keep the social distancing in place and we will work with all of them to ensure it goes well.”
