MEMO re: 14 A – Helmcken Road - Attachment 6

MEMO

To: Property File

From: Enzo Calla

RE: 14 A – Helmcken Road

September 25, 2014

I attended to 14 A Helmcken tonight with Building inspector Gary Faykes, Fire Chief Paul Hurst and Fire Inspector Rob Marshall at the request of RCMP (Constable Mark Hall) to assist with a matter after an incident earlier in the evening. During the RCMP investigation the presence of a grow operation was discovered in the basement. Substandard hydro wiring was being used to power lamps and heater. Under "safe premise bylaw 652" "Notice was placed on the above noted residence (DONOT ENTER) BC Hydro was notified to attend and disconnect power to the house. Occupants/Tenants were advised by Fire Chief, Fire Inspector and RCMP to vacate premise. This was between 18:30 hrs. And us returning to the office at 19:20hrs.

At-19:25 hrs. While building inspector drafted letter to hand delivered to Phil Alcock (registered owner) I contacted Mr.Alcock on the number provided to me from previous encounters with regards to this property. As I was leaving a message on his voice mail he was contacting our office and spoke briefly with Gary. I spoke with Mr.Alcock and outlined what had happened and what actions we were forced to take under the bylaw. I also informed him that we would be delivering the written notice and schedule B hazardous requirements list to him in person to his residence on Haultain street, to which he replied he would be waiting for us and hung up. Moments later he phoned back to advise me that he was on the Malahat and would meet us at the "Tim Horton's" "in Langford by the Home Depot, Future Shop (location was known but not civic address).

At - 19:45 Gary and I left the office with notice and drove to Langford to meet Mr.Alcock, we arrived and met with Mr.Alcock at 19:55 who greeted us and stated " that he was happy and thanked us because he has been trying to evict them and met with the rental tenancy to discuss this matter and also had been trying to get in to inspect the above noted residence for the past couple of weeks.

He vented for approximately 15 minutes about this property and his property on the Malahat that had the same problem and how he was" tired of these people and just wanted them out and he was going to leave the property vacant".

He asked what he thought he should do, to which we referred back to the bylaw and the requirements that would be required to make the residence safe and pointed out the 90 Days given to rectify this matter. To which he stated: I should board up the house and let it sit for 30 days to deal with these people to get them off my back" and then he also stated "that we would all be going to court over this." Also mentioned to him were the fees that will be charged to him, to which he replied "well it will just go on my property taxes that haven't been paid yet" and also "that it will be cheaper then keeping those people there after all he has done for them and how they have taken advantage of him".

We refused his offer of coffee and left at 20:21 hrs. Note that there was 5 gentlemen sitting behind us around the same age as Mr.Alcock who were listening intently to our conversation, and upon our departure Mr.Alcock rose and moved over to their table and started talking to them as we walked out the door.

We then drove back to View Royal and did a drive by 14 A Helmcken and confirmed that power to the house was disconnected (house was completely dark). We then returned to the office to write this memo.

RCMP file number for this incident is 14-13415. Attending constables were M. Hall and A. Rawlins

Enzo Calla Bylaw Enforcement Officer