BONNYVILLE – The MD of Bonnyville is hoping to better connect with business owners in the municipality, through a voluntary business registration program.
MD council decided to move forward with creating a municipal business registry during their Aug. 26 meeting. The initiative will be at no cost to business owners who choose to register, and will be available online to include a business directory, resources for businesses, and an economic profile of the MD of Bonnyville.
“The direction we’re hoping to go is to be able to make contact with our business community and provide them with information that would benefit their operations,” said Caroline Palmer, general manager of planning and community services.
After exploring different scenarios used in other municipalities, council decided to go with a model similar to the one offered by the County of Vermilion River.
The county uses the tool to connect, promote, and engage local businesses and there's no cost to be included, which was a positive aspect for Reeve Greg Sawchuk.
“I like that it’s online, accessible, and free to the businesses because they’re already paying for their development permits to get their businesses up and running. They don’t need another business fee,” he said. “It seems to be a big city thing or towns that like to go down that route and I don’t think we need to.”
CAO Luc Mercier agreed, “Administration's thought on this is the business licenses in big cities are used for the regulation of the businesses in those areas as opposed to development. A business registry, from our understanding, was to be used for an economic development perspective to help enhance our businesses and provide them with services they may need.”
Based on the County of Vermilion River’s program, registration wouldn’t be mandatory but Mercier believes it will benefit business owners who sign up.
“There would be buy-in from the community, but that would involve us engaging with them to ensure that they know why this is being done,” he explained. “It’s not being done for taxes, revenue, or to preclude them from doing the business, it’s to help enhance the business for our region.”
The online registry will be run through the MD’s website. There will also be a resources page which will consist of local, provincial, and federal information, events, and news that will assist their businesses.
Statistics and economic development information will also be available through the business registration program, which will include municipal development plans and land use bylaws, among other documents to give future business owners an idea of what it's like to do business in the MD.
Some of the information provided by business owners through the registry will be available to the public and used as a resource for the MD.
Coun. Ben Fadeyiw believes the program would be an asset for the municipality’s economic development officer.
“He was kind of put to task not having any information here. This is really going to help him, the MD, and MD businesses as far as moving forward, as far as him capturing what businesses are in need of certain actions that he does. I think it’s a great thing and I’m glad council was thinking this way.”
The finer details of the program are being ironed out and it will be brought back before council in the coming months for further discussion.
