麻豆视频

We鈥檝e been critical in the past of some of the decisions made by Estevan city council. Any level of government is going to make mistakes. The key is for the government to own up to its blunders, correct them and make sure they aren鈥檛 duplicated.

We鈥檝e also been critical of local residents when they have failed to provide feedback to council when given the opportunity. People have been silent when council has asked for their thoughts on the budget, the new traffic bylaw and other issues.

(The exception was the debate on whether to reduce the speed limits on Fourth Street through downtown Estevan from 50 kilometres per hour [km/h] to 30 km/h. People wasted no time to voice their opposition on that one).

So it鈥檚 encouraging to see the reaction from the public on the city鈥檚 new business licence bylaw.

Council held a pair of meetings recently to discuss the document. They were well-attended, even though the timing of the meetings, on June 30 and July 4, wasn鈥檛 the greatest.

There were some good questions (and, of course, some not-so-good questions). Most of the people present have home-based businesses, and so they wanted to get more information on how the bylaw would impact them. Some of the suggestions offered by the public will likely be incorporated into the final bylaw.

Nobody had a meltdown. Nobody yelled and screamed, or stormed out of council chambers and slammed the door.

It was the type of meeting you hope to see when council gives the public a chance to provide their opinions.

The business bylaw is, for the most part, a good idea. Local business owners should be happy that non-local, commercial businesses will have to pay a $500 fee if they want to be in the Energy City on a short-term basis.聽

In other words, if an out-of-town hot tub vendor or car dealership wants to sell their items from a parking lot on a Saturday afternoon or on a weekend, and compete with our local businesses, it鈥檚 going to cost them a significant amount of money. (It could be argued that it should be more than $500).

The business bylaw still needs some tweaks. There will likely need to be additional thresholds for the home-based businesses. A home-based business with sales of $2,000 shouldn鈥檛 pay the same for a business licence ($100) as a business that has sales of $29,500.聽

Council will also have to address questions that have been brought up about transient traders. As of right now, home-based businesses in the rural municipality of Estevan would be classified as transient traders, when they probably should be slotted under the home-based business category.

But that鈥檚 a decision that will be coming at a later date. For now, we鈥檙e happy to see council has introduced the business bylaw, and that it hasn鈥檛 generated silence among those who are affected.聽