INVERNESS, NS — A food truck operator in Inverness County says a new bylaw is taking a bite of her business.
Sarah MacIsaac and her partner Laughlin MacDonnell have been serving freshly made burgers, fries, fish, chicken and other items from their Joint Mobile Grill truck for the past three years. She said after finding ways to work through the pandemic, they’ve had to jump a new set of hurdles when the Municipality of the County of Inverness introduced new regulations in November.
In addition to a $500 permit — $1,000 for people who don’t live or operate a business in the area — businesses must also pay $100 to cater weddings, parties or other events. The Eastern District Planning Commission, which provides planning, subdivision and building inspection services in Port Hawkesbury, and the counties of Inverness, Richmond, Victoria and Antigonish, charges an additional $40 for a development permit.
“If we wanted to book a wedding, to vend at that wedding, every single one of those special events according to the bylaw requires an additional $100 special event feet. So say a vendor booked two events a week in July and August, that adds an additional $2,000 to their small business operating costs,” said MacIsaac.
Sarah MacIsaac, left, and her partner Laughlin MacDonnell stand outside their food truck, the Joint Mobile Grill, in Inverness. The couple says a new Municipality of the County of Inverness bylaw is taking a bite out of their business. Contributed – cc
BACKGROUND CHECKS
MacIsaac has other concerns about the bylaw, which requires vendors to undergo criminal record and vulnerable sector checks.
While both she and MacDonnell worked as teacher assistants and had no issue with a criminal record check, she was told by administration at the Inverness RCMP office that it is an offense to conduct a vulnerable sector check if the position does not meet the requirements of the Criminal Records Act.
Inverness County Warden Bonny MacIsaac (no relation) said she’s well aware of the complaints. She said the municipality went through two rounds of public meetings and sought input from the community.
“I’m not going to comment on it because it’s so ridiculous that I don’t know what to tell you,” she said.
“We went through all the public meetings, as you would with any other bylaw. They were there, other food vendors, other restaurants sent in their feedback, as well as community organizations. It was passed. It’s done.”
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CONCERNS RAISED
Keith MacDonald, chief administrative officer, said the bylaw was created after bricks-and-mortar and community groups raised concerns.
“Restaurants within Inverness County brought up the issue of vending businesses setting up next to their businesses on an ongoing basis. Private-sector, in-place restaurants felt that for vending vehicles to come in and set up without any costs and take away business from their establishment (was unfair),” he said.
“Additionally, various community groups that rely on festivals and events also felt it unfair for vendors to come in without any fees to their locations while they were trying to raise money for their volunteer organizations and lose potential revenue for their event to vendors.”
Keith MacDonald, chief administrative officer of the Municipality of the County of Inverness.
ENFORCEMENT QUESTIONS
Sarah MacIsaac said she actually supports the concept of a bylaw and is doing her best to comply. However, she questions if it can work in its current form.
She said officials from the provincial Department of Justice told her it can’t currently be enforced with summary offense tickets, meaning the municipality would have to use long-form information to punish offenders — a process that requires costly court proceedings and a judge’s ruling.
“This is ridiculous if you have a bylaw but you can’t enforce it,” she said.
“I want this to get sorted out so that it’s an equal playing field, fair competition for everybody and that the municipality is held accountable to enforce the bylaw that they wanted and created. Nobody else asked for this. They wanted the bylaw and now that the bylaw is here, they have all these reasons why they’re not enforcing it.”
– Chris Connors is a multimedia journalist with the Cape Breton Post.