Cornwall council agrees to review its recently changed business licensing bylaw

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Cornwall councillors discussed complaints from residents who have been impacted by recent changes — approved by council — to business licensing and obtaining special-event permits on Tuesday.

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Council voted to have staff members review changes in the city’s updated business licensing bylaw, which council passed in April. Coun. Carilyne Hébert also requested council see the results of a survey of the local business community about the increased fees, as well as a breakdown of the exact amendments approved in the bylaw in April.

“Some of these changes have caused an increase of 500 per cent (which is) really, really significant,” said Coun. Sarah Good, elaborating the first organization to reach out to her was a non-profit organization that hosts three craft shows per year, and now must pay the city $500 per event for a permit, opposed to $100.

Good requested greater transparency from staff when sweeping changes are made to bylaws. Coun. Denis Sabourin later recalled a presentation made to council by the city’s supervisor of bylaw services Bernadine McEvoy Robertson and chief building official Charles Bray that spoke to some of the restructuring of bylaws at the beginning of the year.

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“Perhaps when it came to council, there should have been notes so council understood exactly what was taking place,” said Cornwall’s interim CAO, general manager, financial services and treasurer, Tracy Bailey.

“I don’t think we should have to rely on administration to save ourselves from ourselves,” said Coun. Claude McIntosh. “It’s our job to go through the bylaws and ask questions.”

Hébert said a lot of changes snuck in, like residents under the age of 18 not being permitted to apply for a business permit, which can conflict with youth entrepreneurship opportunities through the Cornwall Business Enterprise Centre. She also noted how vendors at special events must now provide a businesses address, and used an example of a 14-year-old girl selling bracelets who would have to use her home address to meet this requirement.

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“We had business licence charges that had been in place since 2005 that had never been updated, never been looked at,” said Sabourin, speaking about the bylaw changes.

“It’s still sticker shock,” said McIntosh. “It was our job, as a corporation, to ease those increases in, not to say hey, by the way, we forgot to charge you… that doesn’t go well with me… nothing more frustrating than bureaucrat trying to tell you how to run your business… it’s not their problem, it’s our problem.”

Interim general manager of planning, development, and recreation Melissa Morgan spoke up to say a policy on exemption of fees, and who qualifies, should be created for a more transparent process. Mayor Justin Towndale said he spoke with a local business owner who claims their fee went up 945 per cent.

“Whether we are playing quote unquote catch-up with other municipalities, or even ourselves, to do that in a single year is excessive, and it could be punitive… we created a process that has an impediment to local businesses,” he said.

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