By Heather Black
With a number of people in Sicamous running businesses without the appropriate license, council wants to know if there are any repercussions to the district that could arise from those.
If any accident or other incident occurred at one of those unlicensed businesses, Coun. Colleen Anderson asked if the district would be liable or responsible.
“That’s why we have bylaws. If they haven’t obtained the license and we haven’t had the ability to inspect (the facility), then no,” community planner Mike Marrs assured.
He did, however, say that if the district had been careless in granting a license and didn’t make the business owner correct a safety issue, then there would be some recourse.
Marrs went on to explain, in regards to what enforcement policies and penalties are in place to encourage compliance, that the business license bylaw is operated on a complaint basis, so staff is not always aware of the lack thereof as bylaw doesn’t go out inspecting and seeking them out. As licenses are required to be posted in a visible area, however, if staff notices a business doesn’t have one, or if they receive a complaint, they will address the matter and follow up. Marrs said that enforcement is generally done by encouraging those businesses to go to the district office and apply for the proper licensing.
