Town appoints weed inspectors

By Janet Kanters Times Editor

The Town of Strathmore has appointed two staff members to act as weed inspectors.
Donna McCallum, parks lead hand/horticulturalist, and Jolene Post, equipment operator and horticulturalist, will take the lead as the town’s weed inspectors.
According to Craig Nichols, Town of Strathmore operations manager, under the province’s Weed Control Act, municipalities have the authority to appoint people as municipal weed inspectors.
“One of the things we ran into last year had to do with noxious weeds,” said Nichols. “Last year, we had two property owners who helped us out, but we ended up having to remove the weeds because we had no enforcement abilities. (Weed inspectors) gives us the power to give notice to public property owners and then have them remove noxious weeds from their property.”
McCallum and Post are both horticulturalists, and Nichols said they both know the process involved in the identification and disposal of noxious weeds.
“They’d be able to go on to lands and if there’s a question about a certain weed, they can find out about it and then just give a notice to the property owner to have it removed, with guidance of how to dispose of it properly,” said Nichols.
The town’s weed inspectors would have jurisdiction on any land within the boundaries of the town, added Nichols.