Vernon Cancels Business Vehicle Licensing

It's a start...and a good one at that.
Any reduction or elimination in red tape for business is welcome indeed.

Not even mentioning the administration cost, there certainly are some red tape items that are sheer nonsense.
And this is one of them.

As reported in the Morning Star on January 31, 2020, "Vernon business owners will no longer need to purchase commercial vehicle licences (CVL) after city councillors voted to eliminate the program at Monday's council meeting."

Councillor Kari Gares put the motion forward to halt the program until stakeholders could have some input on how the program could be altered to be beneficial to businesses, bylaw and the city alike.

But following several amendment votes to Gares' motion, council voted to pull the program altogether.

Gares said she'd been speaking with the Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce about the decal to be purchased and placed on commercial vehicles parking in the downtown core, identifying them as licensed commercial vehicles.

The decals allow for vehicles:

• to use loading zones for up to 20 minutes;
• stopping in laneways for deliveries and pickups -- with hazard lights on, and;
• parking at meters without purchasing time.

In the past 3 years, the CVL program earned $12,900 with a cost in 2020 of $774 to procure the decals, according to the staff report presented by protective services manager Geoffrey Gaucher.

Gares noted several municipalities -- including Armstrong, Enderby, Penticton and Kelowna -- have either already dismantled such a program or are moving in that direction.

Councillor Scott Anderson echoed Gares' sentiments, calling the licensing a "money grab", and suggested the city scrap the whole program.

Mayor Victor Cumming and Councillor Kelly Fehr voted against the motion to collapse the program."

With the $774 saved--not to mention the TIME for city clerks and bylaw officers to administer the bloody thing--the city of Vernon should buy Cumming and Kelly a copy of the above book.

As stated, cancellation of the business vehicle licensing is a start...a very good start.
Let's hope there are more cancellations of red tape on the horizon.