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BY SANDRA BOLAN sbolan@yrmg.com eith Saunders spent 23 years rounding up loose dogs, keeping proper- ties from being over-run by weeds and garbage and ensuring residents park only when and where they are supposed to. As the town’s senior bylaw ofii- cer, Mr. Saunders has helped lead the way in creating a municipality he is proud of. On May 7, Mr. Saunâ€" ders, 65, retired. “TWenty-three years is along time, I feel, to be in bylaw enforce- ment and 65 is a gdod time to stop. I he said. “It’s a very stressful job because all you’re dealing with really is con- frontation one way or another (and) it’s coming at you from all angles," he said. On April 7, 1987, Mr. Saunders became Mlitchurch-Stoufi‘ville's first full-time byiaw oificer. “One of the main reasons they were looking for a bylaw officer in 1987 was they just adopted a new property standards bylaw and a new zoning bylaw and a couple of years before that (the) first sign bylaw and they were looking for somebody to (enforce) those bylaws." 7 Along the way, Mr. Saunders has encountered a few surprises. Like the time an east-end resi- dent called Mr. Saunders requesting he remove the town skunk “I said: ‘excuse me ma’am, but the town don't own skunks.’ I said: ‘they’re wild animals. They happen to live inWhitchurch-Stouffyille or in Stoufl‘ville (and) we don't remove skunks.’ She was quite upset," Mr. Saunders recalled. One animal Mr. Saunders did end up removing was a crow, which was attacking young children at a day care. “The kids couldn’t go‘ out and play on their monkey-bars and stufl‘ because this crow would come down, swoop down and my and peck their heads and face,” Mr. Saunders said. While waiting for the Kennel Inn supervisor to arrive from Aurora, Mr. Saunders, who spent six years working for the Kennel Inn before The Kennel Inn Animal Control sent a couple of people to town to remove the crow, but they were unsuccessful, he said. Trained crows to wild skunks tested bylaw officer : First on job, Saunders retires after 23 years on beat becoming Whitchwch~Stouflville’s bylaw oflicer, decided to check things out for himself. I get over there and this thing is penched on the monkey- bars.Allthekidsareinthehouse,in the little school looking out and this thing's clifrping away to me and I'm thinking this thing's been trained, it was semi tame. I thought: I’ve got to tn'ck this thing into me catching it. In my mind I’m formulating this plan,” he said. Mr. Saunders put his left hand in the air and started talking to the crow in an efiort to distract it. “It's looking at my hand, prob- ably thinking my hands talking to it and then 1 come up with my the hand behind it and gotcha," he said. “I'm holding this crow like an ice cream cone (and) it’s trying to peck me because he can’t teach me and even if he was, I wasn’t going to let him go." As the children cheered from inside the day care centre, Mr. Saunders found a garbage can, deposited the live crow in it and put the lid on it, while he waited for the Kennel Inn supervisor to arrive. But sometimes compliance can only be achieved in the court room. “That’s what you call ‘other duties than assigned,” Mr. Saun- ders said. “Sometimes you just have to go the extra mile." Throughout his tenure as a byiaw officer, Mr. Saunders always advocated co-operation, not con- frontation. “All we're looking for is compli-‘ ance," he said. “What you have to do is a bal~ ance between the people who are complaining and the people who are breaking the law. And the people Who are complaining are expecting you. the town, to get this resolved within a reasonable time. You can keep giving people verbal warnings or written warnings or orders and that, but at some point if they’re not going to comply, you’ve got to put your foot down so to speak." Mr. Saunders said. “Give them a deadline and say this is it. If you don’t by then I’m sorry you’re going to have to go to court. You don’t actually say sorry. ‘You're going to court' and we issue paper- work and even then we tell people if you can resolve this issue before the court date, we’ll be reasonable." “We have a really good track record. We really only go to court Keith Saunders became Whitchurch-Stouffville’s first full-time bylaw officer in 1987. The uniforms and marked vehicles now used by officers give them credibility they didn’t have back then, he said. when we think we’re going to win. We never go to court to lose," he The first was in 1998 when eight-yeaI-old Courtney Tlempe was killed bya dog while at a neigh- bour’s house. “ (That) was very stressful for Mr. Saunders is an animal lover. He and his wife of 34-and-a-half years, Valen'e, have three dogs - Lucy Maud, who is a 13-year-old retriever/ chow, a 13-yearâ€"old collie named "hide and a 12-year-old sheltie named Mackie. Ironically, two of the biggest cases Mr. Saunders has had to deal with in court involved dogs everybody here at the town. Attendâ€" ing the inquest was one of the hard- est things I had to do and I had to give evidence, not much evidence, but I had to give evidence on the stand and give evidence on behalf of the town about licensing and everything and our bylaws,” he said. In 2005, when the province enacted legislation banning pit bulls in Ontario and toughened the penalties for owners who have dogs that pose a danger to the public, Whitchurch-Stouifirille was one of the first municipalities to test the legislation in court v In October of that year, a five- pound Yorkshire terrier was killed STAFF VHOTOISJOERD WITTEVEEN by an Alaskan malamute. 7 “We were one ofthe first munici- palities to actually, under the new bylaw,toactuallytakesomebodyto court and get a conviction," he said, Staying with the non-human population ofWhitchumh- Stoufi‘ville, Mr. Saunders was also instrumental in bringing in a bylaw regulating horse riding establishâ€" ments following the death of Elizabeth Haden, who was killed at the Wagon Wheel Ranch in Mussel- man’s lake in 1999. “She was trail riding and she got thrown 05," Mr. Saunders said “There was no real provincial legis- lation regulating these places The town implemented a bylaw, which required certain requirements to be met to make safety standards for these young kids who are being dropped off to do these trail rides and horse An annual license is now required for riding establishments. ' Something else Mr. Saunders is proud to have spearheaded in Whitchurch-Stouflville is the Toys for Tickets program in which every December for the past four years, people who receive a park- ingticketcanpayitofiwithanew, unwrapped toy or non-perishable food items, which are then donated to the Stouflville Lions Club. Other “We needed immediate enforce- ment and we weren’t getting the respect because people were say- ing. well. anybody can make a busi- ness card, anybody can make ID,” Mr. Saunders said of the changes made abotrt 18 month ago. “But since we've gone into uniform, per- fect. We got instant respect and I think it’s one of the best moves this town has made." Mr. Saundets plans on volun- teering at Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore in Newmarket, where the couple lives. “He really knew how to deal with the residents,” she said. “The knowledge that man has on the town of Stoufiville is incredible." “She’s Very capable of doing this job and I’m sure she’s going to love it like I have," Mr. Saunders said. Taking over for Mr. Saunders is Nancy Cronsberry, who comes from King Township. Linda Mainprize, who enforced local bylaws with Mr. Saunders for the past nine years, calls him “a pil- lar in the oomrhunity".