After reports of hundreds of RCMP visits to the Connaught Motor Inn, Brian Skakun is asking his city council colleagues to force the owners to pay for the nuisance.
He's putting a motion before council at their next meeting Monday night calling for cost recovery for the city after Prince George RCMP said it had been called to the inn more than 700 times in the last 18 months.
Citing other B.C. municipalities that have adopted bylaws to address problem properties that lead to repeated police intervention, Skakun argued Prince George should follow suit.
"If the owner does not pay the invoices submitted to recover the costs, then it may be possible to collect the costs by adding them to the owner's property tax bill."
Located at the corner of Victoria Street and Patricia Boulevard, it has been called a crime hotspot. Council voted unanimously in May to suspend the business license for three months.
At the time, Skakun told owner Joe Carhoun "you give absentee landlords a bad name."
If council approves the motion, Skakun said city staff will have to recommend how such measures could be written into existing or new bylaws.
-- with files from Mark Nielsen
