The By-law department is responsible for the enforcement of by-laws passed by the Council of the Municipality of McDougall. The most common regulating by-laws are for parking, noise , dogs, and property standards.
See the Contact section on how to obtain by-law services.
Our by-law service is fairly passive in that they usually are responding to complaints and do not actively look for by-law infractions. They run standard patrols of our rural/urban areas, beaches and parks especially during the summer months.
Should a health and safety issue arise in the municipality the by-law officer may pursue this issue without a complaint.
Complaints are handled on an anonymous basis, we do ask for the name of the person calling in the complaint for subsequent follow up and may ask for your support if the infraction can not be corrected and leads to court action.
Once a complaint is received the by-law officer will contact the party to verify if the complaint has validity, if the complaint is valid a notice of infraction could be issued, a charge could be laid or the officer may ask the party to just take corrective action.
Over 90% of our complaints are handled by resolution with the by-law officer and the cooperation of all parties avoids very costly fines and penalties that can be levied by the courts.
You also have the ability to report non-emergencies through the OPP's Self-Reporting Citizens system.
