The Village of Halkirk council met for a special meeting on Aug. 9.
On the agenda was the discussion of three bylaws that are required to be enacted as part of the municipality’s ongoing viability review.
Bylaws on the books for the special meeting were business licence, traffic and cemetery bylaws.
The business licence bylaw had been previously reviewed by council, with the first reading passed, during the July 7 meeting; however, chief administrative officer Tamara Sloboda realized that the previously passed document was missing the application components for breeders and bringing it back gave council another opportunity to review it before taking it to a public hearing.
Once passed, the business licence bylaw will require all businesses in the community, including door-to-door sellers and home-based businesses, to purchase a business licence for the community. The licences will cost $50 for the remainder of 2022 and escalate by $25 a year before reaching $125 by 2025.A requirement will be to have the business licence posted in a visible location on the premises of the business, and any businesses not displaying, or operating without, will be fined.
A second bylaw discussed was the traffic bylaw. Once implemented the bylaw will repeal and replace four other bylaws which deal with traffic and road safety within the community. The bylaw will deal with such issues as speeding, sight-lines at intersections, parking, the use of engine retarder brakes, penalties for infractions and other aspects of traffic safety in the community.
A final bylaw discussed was the one for cemeteries. While cemeteries are covered under the Cemeteries Act, each community is required to have their own bylaw, even if they delegate the work and upkeep to other parties, according to Sloboda.
“According to the Cemeteries Act, council is responsible for cemeteries. Period,” said Sloboda.
The new bylaw discusses matters surrounding internment, plot sizes, restrictions surrounding monuments and their installation, flowers and tidiness of grave-sites and other matters surrounding cemeteries.
Once all three readings are passed, the new new bylaw will replace the current cemetery policy.
With the business licence bylaw already having passed first reading, the first reading for the traffic bylaw and the cemetery bylaw were also completed. With those done, the bylaws have a period of public review before a public hearing set for the council meeting taking place on Aug. 24.
At the conclusion, depending on the feedback council receives, the option will be able to send the bylaws back to administration for changes or pass the second and third readings.