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TO: |
Mayor and Members of Council |
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FROM: |
Sheila Birrell, Town Clerk |
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PREPARED BY: |
same as above |
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DATE OF MEETING: |
2003-Sep-08 |
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SUBJECT: |
Licensing Committee |
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RECOMMENDATION:
That the Licensing Committee be established as
a Standing Committee of Council, and the composition be comprised of all
Members of Council, with a quorum of three;
And that participation by the Members of
Council be on a rotating basis alphabetically, with a Chair of the Committee
being appointed for administrative purposes and a Chair being appointed for
each hearing;
And that regular one-day meetings be scheduled
every month and cancelled in the event they are not required;
And that prior to the 2004 appointments, all
current Members of Council be appointed as members of the Licensing Committee
and that three constitute a quorum.
PURPOSE:
(1) To schedule hearings to
complete the outstanding 2003 applications for body-rub parlour and
complementary health care licences; and
(2) To facilitate the amendment of the current composition of the Licensing Committee and to provide for regularly scheduled meetings.
BACKGROUND:
As a result of Council’s direction with respect
to stricter regulation and enforcement of both the body-rub parlour industry
and complementary health care establishments, Licensing Committee Hearings were
held over a period of three months, involving ten applications and 13 days of
hearing. The Licensing Committee is
currently composed of five Members of Council, with a quorum of three. 24 applications for licences were received
and the following table illustrates their disposition.
BACKGROUND:
(cont’d.)
Licence Applications Received 20 |
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Operating Without Licences 4 |
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____ Total 24 |
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Establishments Closed
8 |
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Recommended Closed by Committee 7 |
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Outstanding
Applications 7
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Conditional Licences Granted 2
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___ Total
24 |
Staff
encountered some difficulty in securing quorum for some of the scheduled
licensing hearings. It is recognized
that Members of Council have heavy workloads and busy schedules. 34 hearings were scheduled and 24 were
postponed or cancelled. Some were
adjourned at the request of the appellants and one or two at the Town’s request
because of things like additional disclosure required. The majority, however, were cancelled
because of lack of quorum. On one
occasion, quorum was not obtained at the actual hearing and the hearing had to
be postponed.
At the Council meeting held on August 26, 2003,
staff was requested to report and recommend on a revised composition for the
Licensing Committee and on the inclusion of lay persons as members.
OPTIONS/DISCUSSION:
As an interim solution in order to complete the
seven outstanding applications, staff is recommending that all Members of
Council be appointed to the Licensing Committee but that the quorum remain at
three. A schedule of hearings has been
drawn up and Members of Council are being requested to commit to at least one
hearing, possibly two and to be on “standby” as an alternate in the event of an
emergency. A copy of that schedule,
together with the breakdown of previous participation will be available at the
meeting. Once the hearings have been
completed, a summary of the participation will be presented to the Finance
& Administrative Committee.
More importantly, a longer term solution for
the Licensing Committee needs to be secured.
Staff is recommending that the Licensing Committee be established as a
standing committee and that regular meetings be scheduled. As a result of Council’s request that staff
consider the possibility of the Committee including lay persons, our Legal
Department advises that Section 252 of the
OPTIONS/DISCUSSION: (cont’d)
Municipal Act, 2001
permits delegation of such hearings to a “committee of council”; this phrase
meaning a committee comprised of members of Council and not lay persons.
The Licensing Committee has seven outstanding
2003 licence applications. Once these
have been completed, only those who are currently licensed and charge-free will
be issued a licence for 2004. Since
there is a cap on both body-rub parlours and complementary health care
establishments and the number of licences exceeds both caps, no new licences
are anticipated. Staff anticipate
processing the licence renewals early in 2004 and monitoring the situation for
the first half of the year. Some
refusals in 2004 are anticipated and hearings will be necessary through March
and April. The operating establishments
will be monitored during the period January to August and hearings will be
required during the period September to December, as a result of charges
laid. At other times throughout the
year, hearings will be necessary not only to deal with body-rub parlour and
complementary health care licences but also taxi and limousine licences.
Staff is recommending that:
The Councillors participation would be rotated
on a per meeting basis alphabetically and a record of attendance would be
kept. Alternates should be appointed in
the event of emergencies.
FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:
None
BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:
None
ATTACHMENTS:
Schedule “A” – Schedule of Meeting
Participation
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Sheila Birrell Town Clerk |
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Andy Taylor, Commissioner Corporate Services |
