A Chatham-Kent councillor is looking to address a growing number of unresolved property issues due to a backlog of previous complaints.
On Monday, Councillor Anthony Ceccacci entered a motion requesting council to direct staff to return with recommendations to deal with the backlog of cases.
Ceccacci wants administration to also look into the costs associated with hiring additional building inspectors and by-law enforcement officers.
"I've received a significant amount of concerns from the public," said Ceccacci, noting that by-law officers are only attending to cases regarding life-threatening matters.
According to Chief Building Official Paul Lacina, enforcement officers have investigated 541 property by-law issues since January 2021.
"In addition to those, since we put a hiatus on by-law enforcement for non-life-threatening issues, we've logged more than 131 new issues," said Lacina. "We still have 374 by-law enforcement issues from last year that we've put a hold on."
Lacina said the reason why enforcement officers are not following up on complaints is because the municipality has received a significant amount of building permit applications.
"We have approximately 150 permit applications we haven't looked at," said Lacina. "We have had staff work weekends and evenings to try and get ahead of the backlog. Development is strong and it's showing no signs of slowing down."
Mayor Darrin Canniff followed that up by saying he anticipated new development across Chatham-Kent to continue.
"This has been our biggest year since the history of Chatham-Kent and I expect it to continue going on," he said. "I would look forward to seeing a report putting some more resources towards this."
Councillor Marjorie Crew, who said she supported Ceccacci's motion, said the issue was long overdue and that it needed to be funded properly.
"We need to make sure we address this shortfall."
Municipal staff in Chatham-Kent are set to bring back a report in November with recommendations to deal with the backlog of property standard issues.
