Councillors want bylaw crackdown on off-leash dogs

Ottawa city councillors want bylaw tohire more officers to enforce rulesin city parks, especially when it comes to dogs running off leash.

The City of Ottawa draft budget adds no new positions forbylaw officers or firefightersfor 2023, while increasing the paramedic service by 14positions. The emergency and protective services committee's portion of the budget was approved Monday, totalling $361 million for operations this year.

Coun. Jeff Leiper from Kitchissippi ward pointed out some dog owners let their pets off leash knowing enforcement in winter, particularly, is low.

"It's not all of the parks in the ward, but [I've got] one or two parks that are awesome parks to enjoy where people's enjoyment ... is rendered inaccessible because of off-leash dogs," said Leiper.

In the suburban ward of KanataSouth, this is equally a problem for Coun. Allan Hubley, who pointed to park garbage cansoverflowingfrom people who have lefttheir household bags. As for dog feces, the animal control bylaw states residents should dispose of dog poop at home.

"Sports fields are getting ruined from dogs runningon them continuously and pet owners not picking up after them," Hubley said. A lack of enforcement by bylaw means park staff have to empty garbage cans and do maintenance more regularly, the councillor added, which also comes at a cost.

Bylaw director Roger Chapman told the committee the department tends to react to complaints rather than enforce rules proactively, as the latter wouldbe very costly. In the summer, the department assigns a half-dozen summer students to monitor the most problematic Ottawaparks, he said, but promised to look into what might be possible before the final budget vote on March 1.

Transitional budget

In recent yearsthe bylaw department had struggled to manage the high number ofcomplaints but the situation has improved, Chapman said.

Before the pandemic, each officer might have handled 1,200 calls per year but that is nowcloser to 800, which Chapman deems closer to the manageable range.

• Bylaw call volume not 'sustainable,' says department head

The bylaw department is analyzing call volumes after the unusual pandemic timesto see what is the "new normal", he said. It expects expenditures of $32 million this year.

Chapman's bossagreed 2023 is a transitionyear, and not only for the bylaw department.

Kim Ayotte, general manager of the emergency and protective services department, plans to make recommendations for the new four-year council term about what's needed to address various challenges.

One such problem is an ongoing and worsening shortage of ambulances. The city recorded1,819instances of so-called level zero in 2022, which is more than doublethe record-breaking 2021 figure.

• 'Level zero' ambulance problem worsensdramatically in Ottawa in 2022

Ayottesaid the city could never hire enoughparamedics to fix that problem. He pointed out it would also be unfair for the city to trybecause ambulances are stuck waiting at hospital emergency departments due to a much larger crisis in provincial health care.

For now, the city budget adds 14 paramedic positions in 2023 a carryover of the previous city council's approach bringing that service's total employee count to 727 positions with total spending of $130.7million.

As for the fire department, it anticipates spending $182.7million on operations in 2023,which includes 975 full-time positions. Capital funding of $2.7 million will be put toward a new fire station in Kanata North.

Future recalibrations in Ayotte's department might also consider the frequent string of naturaldisasters, such as last spring's derecho wind storm, and costly protests and events such as the truck convoy and university footballPanda Game.

Coun. Rawlson Kingasked if a reserve fund might be created for such costs. As it stands, the city is stillawaiting financial help for thederecho cleanupand instead turns to its tax stabilization reserve as a backstop.

Councillors alsowanted to ensure lessons learned from the truck convoy protest, or the damaging storms, be implemented, especially a move to help community associations prepare to respond to natural disasters.

On the whole, committeechair Coun. Riley Brockington felt the 2023 budget made some wise decisions with finite funds, such as hiring more paramedics.