Decision to be made on bylaws department

MICHAEL POTESTIO STAFF REPORTER michael@kamloopsthisweek.com

A long-awaited decision on the City of Kamloops’ restructuring of its bylaws department is expected to be made by the middle of July.

City of Kamloops chief administrative officer David Trawin told KTW he has been informed by the city’s human resources director that the results of the arbitration decision are expected to be submitted by mid-month.

Trawin said the city has been waiting seven months since arbitration talks wrapped up to learn of the decision. The proceedings concluded last November.

Trawin said it is his understanding arbitrators try to issue a result within six months, but the COVID-19 pandemic has created a backlog of cases.

“But it hasn’t been untypical to wait 12 months to get a ruling [either],” Trawin said. “It hasn’t been abnormally long.”

Trawin said the union asked the city to issue a joint letter requesting the file be fast-tracked, but he rejected the idea as a matter of course because it was still within a reasonable timeline given previous decisions. Trawin said he understands the union issued a letter on its own, inquiring as to the status of the arbitration’s findings.

The City of Kamloops and CUPE Local 900 went to arbitration at the end of March 2022 amidst a dispute over restructuring of the city’s bylaws department.

The union believes the city infringed on the rights of city bylaws officers and that the city did not have the right, under the collective agreement, to unilaterally make the decision to change the structure of the department, which impacted most bylaws officers.

The union asked the arbitrator to order the new community services officer setup cancelled and revert to the original structure, which could be costly to city taxpayers.

The city revamped the department to have officers more focused on street issues. Part of the revamp includes a physical fitness test that employees must complete within a specified time.

The city has said the focus of bylaws officers has changed, with scope previously on dog and parking issues shifted toward addressing social issues, low-level crime, guarding police jail cells and more.