Staff Report: Amendments to Business License and Municipal Ticket Information Bylaws (COVID-19 business regulations)

Background

The City of Langford currently does not have bylaws in place to regulate businesses with respect to protecting employees and customers from COVID-19.

Commentary

To ensure that the City is doing everything in its power to protect employees and customers from COVID-19, staff asked City lawyers to review local government authorities to determine what steps could be taken.

City lawyers have confirmed that the City may suspend or revoke a business license for not complying with the public health orders of Dr. Bonnie Henry (e.g. allowing more that 50 people to gather).

City lawyers have also advised that the City has the authority to regulate businesses in the following areas to reduce the risk of the spread of COVID-19:

• Requiring checkout lineups be marked with tape or cones every two metres, indicating where customers should stand while lined up;
• Requiring plexi-glass or plastic barriers be installed in a secure manner at all checkouts at locations between the customer being served and the cashier so as to create a physical barrier between the customer and the cashier and to prevent physical contact between the customer and the cashier;
• Where a business has multiple checkouts, requiring at least two metres of separation between the customer at one operating checkout and the cashier at the next closest operating checkout;
• Where business spaces contain aisles, requiring the aisles be marked to show which direction a customer should walk while at the business premises;
• Requiring that clear signs must be posted indicating the maximum number of persons permitted in a store at any given time and limiting the number of customers to one person per sixteen metres squared of floor space open to customers;
• Prohibiting the use of containers, reusable bags, or boxes provided by customers; and
• Restricting the sale of bulk food items;

City lawyers have drafted a municipal ticket information bylaw to enable bylaw officers to fine businesses who continue to operate after a business license has been suspended or revoked, a business regulation bylaw that contains the above regulations, and a corresponding municipal ticket information bylaw to enable the City to fine businesses for not complying with the above regulations.

Before adopting the business license bylaw (and the corresponding municipal ticket information bylaw), the City is required to consult with the medical health officer responsible for the City and to send the bylaw with the Province. In addition, the City is required to, before adopting the bylaw, give notice of its intention to adopt the bylaw and provide an opportunity for persons who consider they are affected by the bylaw to make representations to council, which opportunity may be through written submission alone.

It should also be noted that if/when these three bylaws are adopted, bylaw officers, as they do with all files in Langford, would educate businesses of these new regulations and work with businesses to gain voluntary compliance before proceeding down a path of enforcement.

Financial Implications

None.

Legal Implications

The attached bylaws have been prepared by the City’s lawyers.

Options

1. That Council give Ticket Information Bylaw No. 34, 1993, Amendment Bylaw No. 1907, 2020 1st, 2nd, and 3rd reading, and further that Council adopt Ticket Information Bylaw No. 34, 1993, Amendment Bylaw No. 1907, 2020;

AND

2. That Council give Business Regulation (Covid-19) Bylaw No. 1908, 2020, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd reading;

AND

3. That Council give Ticket Information Bylaw No. 34, 1993, Amendment Bylaw No. 1909, 2020 1st, 2nd, and 3rd reading;

AND

4. That Council direct staff to send Business Regulation (Covid-19) Bylaw No. 1908, 2020 and Ticket Information Bylaw No. 34, 1993, Amendment Bylaw No. 1909, 2020 to the Provincial Minister of Health for deposit and to the Medical Health Officer for the purposes of consultation with the expectation that the Medical Health Officer provide any comments in writing by noon on April 20, 2020.

AND

5. That Council direct staff to provide an opportunity for those who may be affected by Business Regulation (Covid-19) Bylaw No. 1908, 2020 and Ticket Information Bylaw No. 34, 1993, Amendment Bylaw No. 1909, 2020 to provide submissions to the City in writing by noon on April 20, 2020.

OR

6. That Council does not take additional steps to regulate businesses in relation to COVID-19 at this time.

Respectfully submitted,

Submitted by:
Braden Hutchins, Director of Corporate Services

Concurrence:
Adriana Proton, Manager of Legislative Services

Concurrence:
Chris Aubrey, Fire Chief

Concurrence:
Lorne Fletcher, Manager of Community Safety and Municipal Enforcement

Concurrence:
Michael Dillabaugh, CPA, CA, Director of Finance

Concurrence:
Darren Kiedyk, Chief Administrative Officer