Petrolia is looking at its options after ending its contract with a private contractor

The Municipal Enforcement Unit (MEU) started in Petrolia with a 90-day test program in 2001. By March 2002. The town signed a contract with MEU to use their specially trained Municipal Law Enforcement Officers to do routine enforcement of bylaws and provincial offences.

MEU has expanded its services to other municipalities including Brooke-Alvinston and Sarnia over the past 10 years and on its website claims to have a 93 percent closing and conviction rate with municipalities.

But according to a report to council, staff met with MEU July 7 and “the outcome of that meeting was that MEU would no longer be providing bylaw enforcement service to the Town of Petrolia,” wrote CAO Manny Baron.

For now, the bylaw enforcement officer from the County of Lambton will provide coverage in Petrolia “until a permanent resolution for service…comes before council.”

Mayor John McCharles would not say why the town decided to release MEU from its contract.

“There is a way the town would like to handle bylaw enforcement,” McCharles says adding council wants to have “a broader look at the whole situation.”

MEU’s contract for municipal enforcement in Petrolia was budgeted for $15,000 in the 2014 budget.