Residents on Farrow Street may get one, but only one, more shot to get mail service started again on their street.
Late in May the District of Kitimat hand delivered letters to homeowners on Farrow Street, outlining the steps that might be taken to resume mail delivery after Canada Post stopped service late last year due to safety concerns.
A dog at large was what was blamed by Canada Post for their reasons to stop delivery to the street. Service was discontinued twice in 2012 over concerns, the second time being the stoppage which continues today.
Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Warren Waycheshen explained the possible solutions in the District's letter to homeowners on the street.
“Canada Post will resume mail delivery as the dog's owners have taken steps to ensure it will not be running at large,” he wrote, but added a number of conditions that Canada Post has stipulated.
Those conditions include the provision that if the dog does run at large again and impacts mail delivery, “Canada Post will permanently withdraw door-to-door mail delivery.”
If that were to occur, the letter continues that the District would have to provide a community mail box for Farrow Street residents to pick up their mail. Such a box would be at or near Farrow Street and each home would have a locked unit.
The letter was sent to collect input from residents ahead of Kitimat Council discussing the options.
One letter was received in response, in the correspondence package sent to the Sentinel. The letter author, a resident of Farrow Street, says the solution to a recurring problem is not to permanently suspect mail delivery but to have the dog put down.
The District, he writes, should create bylaws that allow it or work with lawyers to find ways to give themselves that power.
Waycheshen said that council will discuss the direction suggested by Canada Post early July, once all comments have been collected from residents.
He does say that the town's new animal control bylaw does not give the town automatic authority to destroy a dog without going through a judge. Rather the new classification of a dangerous dog can require a pet owner to either muzzle the dog or construct and enclosure.