Kimberley Kitteringham, City Clerk, addressed the Committee to provide opening remarks related to the recent expansion of the Administrative Monetary Penalty System and introduced Jeff Baker, Manager, Administrative Monetary Penalty System, who presented details of the project update. Ms. Kitteringham acknowledged the contributions of the working group, Chris Bullen, Manager, By-law and Regulatory Services, Michael Toshakovski, Deputy City Solicitor, Jody Parsons, Court Administrations Coordinator, Joseph Silva, Treasurer, Marco Francisco, Supervisor, Business Licensing and Standards, Christy Lehman, Supervisor, Animal Care, Jennifer Evans, Legislative Coordinator, and Martha Pettit, Deputy City Clerk, and she advised that members will continue to be added to the working group as the project progresses.
Mr. Baker also thanked everyone for their work on the project and provided an overview of what AMPS is, its legislative authority, a jurisdictional scan of its use across other municipalities, as well he described the City's AMPS division and the roadmap moving forward.
The Committee commended staff for the informative and thorough presentation. There was a brief discussion on the current penalty fees for by-law infractions related to grass cutting, and infills and that they are too low, the future expansion of AMPS, and its use for non-parking by-law infractions.
Staff advised that it will take time to fully expand AMPS and for the different business units to evaluate their compliance goals and to review all the by-laws to revise the penalty provisions. Staff noted that there has been very good progress to date now that the AMPS business unit has been established and that the fees will be reviewed as part of the consolidated AMPS by-law.