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Disgruntled Faro resident dumps on town property

On Saturday night, Roman Kaminecki backed up his truck and dumped a load of roots, rock and dirt in front of the Town of Faro's public works shop.
faro

On Saturday night, Roman Kaminecki backed up his truck and dumped a load of roots, rock and dirt in front of the Town of Faro’s public works shop.

He did this three times, leaving three piles of fill for town employees to clean up on Monday.

As town officials were cleaning up this mess, Kaminecki was appearing before the courts in Whitehorse.

The incident was a breach of his probation.

Kaminecki has been charged with possession of stolen property. He maintains he salvaged the stuff from the Faro dump. The case has not yet been heard in court and Kaminecki intends to plead not guilty.

Because of this, he had been barred from going to the local dump.

But Kaminecki owns a landscaping business, and needs to dispose of fill to do his job.

So he dumped the fill in front of the town shop, where they keep all of their equipment and would be able to clean it up the easiest, he said.

Kaminecki also has a restraining order against him, preventing him from having any contact at all with Faro council or employees, on or off municipal property.

The restraining order stems from a separate incident, which began on April 22, 2009, when the town contacted Kaminecki about an environmental issue and criminal offence.

“There has been ground stripped and trees removed as well as a large number of items stored off of your industrial lot,” former CAO Rose Price wrote to Kaminecki.

The items stored off his lot were at the town’s auto body yard and in the areas located behind the industrial subdivision where Kaminecki has a lot.

She gave him 30 days to clean up all of these items.

“If you do not comply with this letter of cease and desist you will be responsible for any cleanup costs incurred to remove any items from public property.”

On May 16, Kaminecki responded by e-mail.

“The letter misrepresented the property as the ‘auto wreckers’ site’ whereas I always had the understanding that it was a salvage yard and I believe you have documentation that identifies it as such.”

Still, Kaminecki agreed that he would comply; he just needed to wait out the weather.

When the letter arrived, giving him 30 days to clean everything up, “There were many items still frozen down and over two feet of snow on the property,” he said.

Later, the ground was soft, making it difficult to move heavy items.

The town’s auto body yard had been locked for the past week because it was not possible to use the road, due to mud.

He said he could have all his items removed by September 2009.

“It was never my intention to cause any sort of problem, and I was just using the property in the manner it was designed for - as a salvage yard,” he wrote.

“With time, I can assist the Town of Faro in cleaning up the property.”

Price replied the city would be cleaning up the land on May 28, and that Kaminecki would be responsible for any costs.

Later, this date was moved to June 26.

On July 1, Faro’s public works crew began to clean up the lands.

Kaminecki showed up at the site and began yelling at the workers, according to an affidavit submitted by chief of operations Mark Vainio.

He told the workers to “go no further,” drew a line in the dirt and told them, “do not cross the line, or else.”

The crew backed off and Kaminecki blockaded access to the lot with his loader/backhoe, said Vainio.

Kaminecki was “shouting obscenities and gesturing.”

Later Vainio was told that Kaminecki had confronted various town employees at their homes and via telephone.

“I am afraid of (Kaminecki) and will not go unaccompanied to my own work yard ... if (he) is in the area,” said Vainio.

“I believe (he) is threatening, dangerous and volatile and feel that my safety, and that of my staff, is jeopardized in our attempts to enforce the bylaw.”

In a July 3 memorandum to Price, Vainio wrote about attempting to have Kaminecki removed for psychiatric treatment.

“I talked to Deb Edwards and Matt this morning about getting a doctor to look at him,” Vainio wrote. “They will look into what can be done to remove him from town.”

The RCMP can’t remove him until he actually hurts someone, Vainio added.

On July 31, Judge Michael Cozens issued an order without hearing or notice, restraining Kaminecki from preventing the town from enforcing its bylaw.

He was restrained from entering the particular lot and prevented from having any contact with town employees.

Kaminecki was given 72 hours to overturn the order, which was served to him on a Friday.

In court on Monday, Kaminecki said he felt he was not welcome in town and that three people were actively trying to push him out.

He claims that Vainio is one of them.

Kaminecki still lives in Faro but is planning on relocating to Carmacks.

Justice of the Peace Dean Cameron amended the restraining order, allowing Kaminecki to go to municipal buildings during normal business hours to conduct normal business.

This allows him to go to the dump to get rid of his fill.

It does not allow him to salvage things from the landfill, nor to dump rocks and dirt on any other city property.

Kaminecki will be appearing before the court again when the circuit court makes its way to Faro on July 6.

Repeated calls to the Town of Faro were not returned before press time.

Vainio declined comment.

Contact Chris Oke at

chriso@yukon-news.com