Property crime down, says RCMP
With the exception of a recent spate of telephone frauds, crime in Oliver is down across the board, RCMP Sgt. Blaine Gervais told a council committee meeting Monday.
He credited the arrest in Alberta last month of a three-member gang who had been active in the Oliver area and the apprehension locally of one “career criminal … (who) would steal three cars a day.”
Property crimes, such as breaking and entering and vehicle theft and theft from vehicles were down for the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2015. Other types of theft were up slightly, as were mischief and fraud complaints.
Police have received a rash of complaints about telephone scams going on right now, he said, speculating that some criminals based outside the country are targeting Oliver residents.
“They are impossible to catch. … They will blanket an area with calls and if they get a five-per-cent return (they are successful). … That’s their business and they are good at it,” said Gervais.
$1,000 fine for damaging a boulevard tree
Town staff got its wish Monday for more robust bylaws to protect the town’s trees as fines as high as $1,000 for damaging trees on town land will go into effect next month.
“It seems that there are a lot of people who don’t want trees in front of their property,” said operations director Shawn Goodsell in telling council that staff needs “a few more teeth” in the laws that dissuade residents from damaging trees on town land.
Owners or occupants of properties in the town are responsible for irrigating and caring for boulevard trees. Further, they are prohibited from removing, damaging, cutting or killing those trees.
Under changes to town legislation given third reading on Monday, fines for neglecting a boulevard tree jumped from $50 to as high as $200. The fine for damaging a boulevard tree could now go as high as $1,000, up from the old maximum levy of $150.
Council will adopt the new fine schedule at its May 9 meeting.
Interior Health will be asked to for answers
Faced with the second curtailment of services at the local hospital, Oliver council decided Monday to invite officials from the Interior Health Authority to a meeting to discuss hospital service in the South Okanagan.
The emergency room at the South Okanagan General Hospital (SOGH) in Oliver has been closed overnight for the past three days. A similar shutdown occurred in early January and lasted nearly a month.
A press release from Interior Health cited “limited physician availability” as the cause. Councillor Jack Bennest told council the problem is not a shortage of doctors, but rather a shortage of doctors willing to work the overnight shift.
Council passed a motion to ask senior Interior Health staff to come to a meeting to update council on the emergency room situation, the use of nurse practitioners and the general future of SOGH.
Town was a victim of Teneycke rampage
The town of Oliver will write a victim impact statement to be put in the record at the sentencing hearing for Ronald Teneycke, who terrorized Oliver last summer.
The decision resulted from a letter to council from provincial Public Safety Minister Mike Morris regarding the case.
Mayor Ron Hovanes said he would contact some of the area residents who were victimized by Teneycke during a crime spree and man hunt last July.
The East Side Grocery was robbed at gunpoint and Oliver resident Wayne Belleville was shot in the back before Teneycke was arrested in a Cawston orchard.
Earlier this month he pleaded guilty in a Penticton court to robbery, discharging a firearm with intent to wound and flight from a police officer.
$36.50 jump in average residential tax bill
An average residence in Oliver will see its total property bill jump by $36.50 this year, according to the tax bylaw passed Monday.
A home with an assessed value of $301,336 will face increases in RDOS taxes of $17.87, in school taxes of $15.79 and in police taxes of $4.82.
Meanwhile, municipal, library and hospital taxes will drop by $0.77, $0.15 and $1.05 respectively.
Property tax on an average commercial property, valued at $210,000, will increase by $61.84.