SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - After laying next to a fence for about a year, some scrap siding could set Thornton's owner Luke Wood back about $200. Bylaw officers issued Wood a ticket for having the siding in his parking lot while he was taking out the garbage after a busy brunch at the restaurant on Sunday.

Restaurant-owner Luke Wood was issued a ticket on Sunday for scrap siding that had been sitting next to his chain-link fence for the past year. - Alyssa Smith/ NNSL photo

After being issued a warning about the siding on the evening of May 13, Wood said the same officer told his wife Mahasi, they had until Monday to remove it.

As Thornton's was hosting its final weekend of restaurant service for the season, and there were birthday parties booked at the bowling alley - located in the same building - Wood said his wife requested until Monday to move the siding instead.

Wood said that his wife made note of the conversation.

"My wife is a kindergarten teacher and she writes everything down," he said. "She wrote this all down and told the staff about it."

Wood said the officer told his wife there was a complaint the siding was a safety hazard, but he disagrees.

"These are just little pieces of siding, it's a big parking lot," he said.

"It's really frustrating.

"We are absolutely fighting it," he said about the ticket.

Despite Wood's claims the bylaw officer gave permission to have the siding removed by Monday, they showed up again on Sunday.

By the time the officers arrived Wood had already disposed of most of the siding, all that was left were a couple pieces that were too long to be transported in his truck.

"We had already begun, and had almost finished cleaning up," he said.

The remaining pieces have since been picked up by a contractor Wood had hired after bylaw issued the initial warning last Thursday.

He said he explained to the officer on Sunday that he couldn't clean up the remaining siding at that time.

"There were people in the restaurant and people in the bowling alley. We can't just both stop," he said.

"I was still wearing my chef outfit.

"He said, 'no, it has to be done now, or you're getting a ticket," Wood said about his conversation with the officer.

He said the siding had been there for quite some time - since the building's siding was replaced about a year ago.

Wood explained that when he told the officer he couldn't move the siding right then, the officer asked for his I.D. and then wrote him a ticket.

"It was strange. The whole thing was quite strange," he said.

In contrast, a barge owned by Jifko Engineering blocking the boat launch by Giant Mine since before the ice melt had yet to be moved by press time. The barge had a public notice taped to it ordering it's removal from the launch that had been there for weeks.

Doug Gillard, manager of Municipal Enforcement, did not respond by press time as to why it was important that Wood's scrap siding be moved before Monday.

When Wood asked why the siding had to be removed immediately, he said the officer told him that a city councillor had complained.

"I'm the volunteer who cleaned up their lot last Wednesday and contacted Public Works to report the safety hazard from the scrap metal," city councilor Paul Falvo said in an e-mail Monday.

When reached by phone yesterday, Falvo said that he made the complaint because he was concerned about public safety.

"I simply asked public safety to take a look at it," Falvo told Yellowknifer on Tuesday.

"I didn't want someone's dog getting cut up in there, or someone's child or even an adult for that matter," he said.

Falvo said he was cleaning up litter in the area when he noticed the siding.

"I didn't want to move the scrap metal. I didn't want to get in there and get injured trying to clean up the litter in there."

He said when he went by the area where the siding was on Monday, he noticed that it was being cleaned up.

"I'm very happy that they've done that," he said. "I would commend them for doing it so quickly."