On the beat

As of today (June 14) the Town of Wabush has a new municipal enforcement officer (MEO).

Melanie LaFosse, has been hired to ensure rules and laws are abided by in the town.

Mayor Ron Barron admitted that, initially, he was not in favour setting up the position because of issues around affordability. But, after the town manager made a pitch with some sound suggestions to him, as well as some discussion with the RNC, he feels it's a wise investment for the Town afterall.

"We are rolling the MEO position in with our animal control position," Barron explained. "So it's not going to be so costly after all, so that alleviated a lot of my concerns. And we have a vehicle already for animal control and she will be using that."

Barron said there are plenty of duties the MEO will carry out that will fare well for the Town; including working with the RNC on traffic violations.

"One of the things we talked about with the new chief of police (when he was in here) was for the [municipal enforcement] officer to be able to enforce some of our highway traffic regulations," Barron said. "She will operate, of course, within town boundaries and be watching for things like people going through stop signs and speeding; because we have far too much of that. So, with an extra body out there enforcing, we think that people, who are breaking the rules, may think twice with the extra enforcement in place."

Busy time

The mayor figures the new town cop will be quite busy this summer with so many new developments going ahead, both commercial and residential.

"Our officer will be making sure people are going through the permitting process," he noted. "And she will be doing the legwork to follow up on those [permits] to make sure people are conforming to what they applied for."

Improper disposal

Another issue-that's plaguing the Town- is the improper disposal of vehicles. At last week's council meeting, Mayor Barron vowed the Town would be stepping up its efforts to deal with the problem. Last week two vehicles were found dumped in a wooded area, just a week after the Town hosted its cleanup week, which offered a free towing service to discard of such vehicles.

The mayor was incensed by the blatant disregard and said measures will be taken to identify the offenders from now on.

"We will be looking for VIN numbers and doing some investigation into this whenever it happens," he said. "There is no excuse for this especially when they could call the Town and make arrangements dispose of these vehicles properly."

The MEO will be working with the RNC on the problem, Barron said, in an interview with the Aurora.

"She will have a role to play when it comes to vehicles and wrecks," he said "It's just terrible how some people discard their old vehicles and it has to stop."