The township is looking for input into a Draft Biosecurtiy Policy. We are encouraging everyone to look into what is proposed and be sure to include your own thoughts on the matter. The easiest way to voice your opinion is either with yoursaypertheast.com or by emailing the clerk.

Our own stance is basically summed up in the following points. We feel that the language and direction in the Draft Policy is too specific in scope, and could be much more simply stated:

• Prior to any employee, designate or member of staff seeking to enter upon any agriculture property in the Township, consent must be obtained FIRST.
  
• After consent has been obtained, Staff and employees will adhere to ANY and ALL protocols as designated by the property owner or agent.
  
• Staff should be properly equipped to adhere to most generally applied biosecurity protocols: ie. Have proper footwear, disposable coveralls etc.
  
• Staff, when making appointments with property owner, MUST inform the owner or agent of any prior farm visits within the last 48 hours and MUST obtain consent to make any subsequent daily visits to another farm. That is, if the Staff or Employee is to visit more than one property in one day.
  
• These provisions need not be followed in the event of an emergency, such as a fire.
  
  

There is also no specific language surrounding crop production, such as potential issues regarding weeds or soil borne disease etc. Please be sure to leave your comments. As always, we are open to ideas and constructive input.

With record high turnout and great campaigning we must say we are thrilled with the results of the municipal election. The residents have spoken and the resounding message appears to be “Listen to us!”

We look forward to working with the new council, expecting great things and hopeful that we can now make some meaningful progress.

We sincerely thank all of the residents for participating in this election, it is crucial to ensure that your voice is heard!

In the agenda for the September 4th council meeting, Councillor Andrew MacAlpine submitted a notice of motion for an Entry to Private Property Protocol for staff including the Property Standards Officer. We believe this protocol would go a long way to ease landowners concerns regarding warrantless entry to property while still allowing the township to address concerns as they may arise. His proposed motion can be found on
the Perth East website under council agendas or here:
https://calendar.pertheast.ca/Council/Detail/2018-09-04-1930-Council-Meeting/Agenda

However, further to this on August 28th, Andrew served notice to remove his notice of motion. After questioning Andrew on why he would remove this motion, he told us that it is very difficult to pass motions like this with the current Council and that the full Council would not be in attendance at the September 4th meeting, making it even more difficult. He has assured us that he will reintroduce this motion at a later date.

We support Andrew’s decision as we believe it is important to have a full Council present when discussing and voting on important topics, such as warrantless entry.  We look forward to a time when Andrew is able to again reintroduce this motion.

​

At the July 3rd Council meeting, the CAO presented a report with his suggested amendments to be made to the property standards bylaw.
These amendments include:

• the officer will only respond to written complaints, emails are accepted. Emergency situations do not require complaints
• for agricultural properties,  the complainant must demonstrate how they are negatively being impacted by the condition or situation they are complaining about
• the officer can only enter property to determine whether there is a property standards violation or whether an order made under the building code act is being complied with

These amendments have been paraphrased and the full list of amendments can be found on the agenda for the July 3rd meeting on Perth East's website. The CAO stated the these are interim amendments and the Property Standards by-law will be revisited at a later date. 
All of the above amendments were approved by Council. These amendments are a good first step but stop short of protecting the rights of all citizens and properties in Perth East.

      The Reform Coalition presented a delegation at this meeting. Our speech spoke about the misinformation in the flyer the township mailed out, as well as how the proposed amendments did not do enough to protect citizens. We once again presented Council with our suggested amendments, the ones that are listed on our petition.  We gave a copy of our petition to the clerk. Between paper copies and the online petition we had between 500 to 600 signatures. 
          Councilor Andrew MacAlpine put forth a motion to revisit our suggestions every time the Property Standards by-law was opened. Mayor Bob McMillan, started to state that there was no reason to look at our suggestions again as they have all been addressed. Deputy Mayor Rhonda Ehgoetz was quick to remind the Mayor that as chair of the meeting, he is not allowed to give his opinion. At this point, Councilor Jerry Smith, who appeared quite agitated, stated that it was a waste of time to ever look at our suggested amendments again as they have been dealt with, and he could not support Councillor MacAlpine's motion.  Councilor MacAlpine reasoned  that our group represents close to 600 people and as this is such a large group, our suggestions should be revisited. 
             The motion was voted upon, Deputy Mayor Rhonda Ehgoetz, Councillor Andrew MacAlpine, and Councillor Don Brunk voted in favor to revisit our suggestions at a later date. All other councilors voted against it. The motion was defeated. 
 
Time and time again, we have made well researched, well written, and very reasonable arguments to council. Our suggestions do very little to inhibit the officer but do a lot to respect property rights and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.   Every time our justifiable concerns are ignored. If council and staff truly believe that the officer will not enter property without the owners permission, why is there so much resistance to change the bylaw? 

Attached is our delegation speech to council

Please sign our online petition at www.ipetitions.com/petition/pertheast or click the button below. It is for our recommendations to council for revisions to the Property Standards Bylaw.
Please write your ward in the comment box when you sign. Thank You! 

       Since the Property Standards Officer was appointed, council and staff have given the public various reasons as to why the officer needs the power of warrantless entry. Here is a list of those reasons and our counter arguments:
Perth East:  The province of Ontario is forcing all municipalities to have a Property Standards bylaw and officer by July 1st, 2018.      
Counter Argument: The province is NOT forcing all municipalities to have a Property Standards bylaw. If  municipalities do not have a bylaw in place by July 1st, they will fall under the Residential Tenancies  Act. This act only applies to landlords and tenants, and does not give anyone the authority of warrantless entry
Perth East:  If the township does not have a Property Standards Officer, then the township has to appoint  a Residential Tenancies Officer. There needs to be an officer either way
Counter Argument: Nowhere in the Residential Tenancies Act does it say that municipalities  have to appoint an enforcement officer.
Perth East: The officer will only respond to written complaints and try to work with property owners to comply with property standards  before entering the property without their permission
Counter Argument: While this sounds reassuring, nowhere  in the provincial bylaw or Perth East's bylaw is it written that the officer can only respond to written complaints. The RCPE has asked for this to be added to the bylaw but has not as of this posting
Perth East: This bylaw has been in effect since 2001 but hasn't had an enforcement officer in resent years. Since there was not a problem before, there shouldn't be a problem now 
Counter Argument: At this point we should be thankful that we have not had an issue arise! Being lucky does not mean that an issue will not arise. The passing of this bylaw was wrong in 2001 and it is wrong now. A misdeed done in the past does not make it right!
Perth East: A similar officer was recently appointed in North Perth and the citizens didn't protest that officer's appointment.
Counter Argument: We don't agree with giving an officer warrantless entry in any municipality, including North Perth but that is an issue for their citizens to decide. We are in Perth East and we want our concerns heard! 
Perth East: Property Standards can not be enforced without this officer
Counter Argument: Perth East already has a "Tidy Yards" bylaw. This bylaw covers most of the issues in the property standards bylaw but is enforced by Municipal Law Enforcement Officer. This officer does not have the authority of warrantless entry but can still enforce codes set out in the "Tidy Yards" bylaw.

           As you can see, neither council or staff have given the residents of Perth East one good reason as to why we need an officer with this kind of authority. As we have stated from the start of the passing of this bylaw, we are not against having property standards or a way to enforce those standards but we are against an enforcement officer with authority greater than even a police officer. 
         Do not just take our word for these arguments, we encourage everyone to research these issues on their own and come to their own conclusions.

          Our last letter regarding amendments to the property standards bylaw was discussed at the May 1st council meeting. 
            Staff and council are working on a bio security protocol with advice from the OFA, the National Farmers Union, and the Christian Farmers Federation. From there, the township with draft a policy and submit it to other farming groups for their consideration including but not limited to the DFO, EFO, Pork Producers of Ontario and others. 
           Councillor Helen Dowd took issue with the statement from our letter: "We have also asked councillors whether they can recall anything to this end and they cannot."  This statement refers to the Mayor stating at the April 17th meeting that bio security was discussed during a council meeting in March. We could find no record of this and the counsellors we spoke to agreed.
          Helen stated that since we didn't speak to all the counsellors that this statement is inaccurate.  We disagree that this in inaccurate, we never implied that we spoke to all counsellors but the counsellors we did speak with confirmed our research on the matter.

At the April 17th council meeting, the township hired a lawyer to discuss the property standards bylaw.  His name was Eric Davis and is from a firm in Waterloo. He did very little to ease concerns that the residents had with the bylaw as he talked very little about what the bylaw actually says and more about how the Property Standards Officer should operate or does operate in other municipalities.
The following is an email from Kelly Reihl, a resident of Perth East who confronted the Eric after the council meeting:

Thanks for the update, you all have done a wonderful job. Thank you!

Just as an FYI for everyone.

 I spoke with Eric Davis after the meeting last night. He was in a rush and didn't seem to want talk much or answer questions but I tracked him down, through the back room. 
We started our conversation there.
Our Property Standards Officer along with other councilors were in  this room. You could tell Davis really didn't want to talk with me or answer my questions.

I asked him point blank give me a 
YES  or NO answer. 
Can the Property Standards Officer come onto your property without even having a written or verbal complaint made to the municipality?
Davis started saying well why would  they do that. The Property Standards Officer would have no reason to do that. 

Davis then said he needed to get his coat. My feeling was very much  he did not want to talk  or  answer my question.
 I said go ahead I will follow you to get your coat. We went through the door to the hall by the cloak room area.

 I said please answer YES or NO
Can The Property Standards Officer come onto your property without even having a complaint?
He said YES they can they do not need a complaint.

Our conversation continues in the cloak room hallway.

 I then asked Davis if The Property Standards Officer has  to call ahead or give any notice to the Property Owner before they come onto your property?

Well he said they mostly always do. We want the Property Standards Officer to work with the people and fix any situations. We want a good relationship....bla bla bla.
I said please give me a YES or NO answer
Do they have to call ahead or give notice of any kind before entering your property?

NO they don't need  to give notice  Davis answered. 

I then asked can the Property Standards Officer go into old buildings like barns and sheds through windows that have been broken with no glass in them.  Find  an unlocked  back entrance into a  building or go through closed gates to get  into any buildings?

Again Davis started to say well they would have no reason to do that if the complaint wasn't about inside  buildings.

I said,  I would like a YES or No answer, can they? They all ready have the right to be on the property without a  complaint being made or notice.

YES they can, but not into your dwelling.

I continued asking  more questions. 
Does our municipality have to implement a Property Standars Officer? 

Now that we have A Property Standards  Officer can we put a provision in our by law that the  Officer must give notice to ALL property owners before entering their property?
Perhaps the Property Standards Officer has to have a warrant in our municipality before entering a property if permission is not granted by the Property Owner for their enter.

He did not want to answer. He said at one point I can't give legal advice.

 I then said in your opinion can the municipality implement these provisions?

 He said well no they can't in my option.
I said in your opinion could they implement these provisions or not have one according to judicial law.
Another run around with answers.

At that moment  our new Property Standards Officer came out of the back room put her hand on his arm in a hold position and said the councillors want to talk to you now you have to come. Davis  of course jumped at the chance to leave.

Maybe a totally of 5 minutes I got to speak with Davis. 

A Property Standards Officer's right are:

*NO COMPLAINT IS REQUIRED FOR THEM TO ENTER YOUR PROPERTY

*No notice is required  to the  property owner before entering your property

*they can go into any of your buildings if they find a way in that is not locked, but can not enter your dwelling.

Truly more authority than an officer of the law when it comes to entering private property.

Kelly  Herlick-Riehl