Estevan city council gave second and third readings to a bylaw on Monday night that will govern massage and body rub parlours in the community.
The bylaw outlines the requirements for parlours and their employees. It also explains what is allowed inside a parlour, and reasons a parlour licence could be suspended.
When the bylaw was introduced two weeks ago, police Chief Paul Ladouceur said some massage parlours become involved with criminal activity, including sexual activity and human trafficking. The bylaw gives local police a document to work with if it happens here.
A person who is convicted of an offence could face a fine of up to $10,000, and/or up to a year in prison. Further violations within a 12-month period would result in harsher penalties.
City clerk Judy Pilloud said she hasn’t received any concerns about the bylaw. Coun. Shelly Veroba said she received a phone call from someone in Edmonton, who represents 6,000 licensed massage therapists and was worried about the language in the bylaw.
Veroba said after she sent the bylaw to the woman, it seemed to ease concerns.
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Council voted to dissolve the leisure services advisory board during the meeting.
Coun. Travis Frank, who was the city council representative on the advisory board before it was dissolved, said the board’s job was to provide information, rather than to dictate or decide what happens in leisure services and its facilities.
“We have been considering the option of dissolving the board and moving more to more of a community advocate committee,” said Frank.
The committee will be replaced by a new board that deals with the application and allocation of community grants in the spring and fall. That board will be established in January 2018.
“This is not to cut out communication with any of these user groups,” said Frank. “In fact, most of the discussion around this has been to increase communication with the user groups.”
City manager Jeff Ward said committee meetings haven’t been taking place since leisure services manager Nathan Jesse resigned in the summer. Since then, discussions have taken place about what the committee does and which user groups are represented.
The city has been operating with three people splitting the duties of the leisure services manager in the last few months.
Veroba and Coun. Greg Hoffort suggested tabling the end of the leisure services committee, but under the terms of the leisure services bylaw, the city would have to advertise for new members on Dec. 1. The city didn’t want to advertise for a committee that soon wouldn’t exist.
Veroba said she knows of one person who is concerned about the committee’s demise, but she believes people who have issues with such services in the community can approach other people.
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The monthly cart report from Green for Life Environmental (formerly Regens Disposal) was received. It showed that 4,543 recycling carts were emptied in October, with a total weight of 34,890 kilograms. The average weight was 7.68 kilograms per cart.
As for trash bins, 14,397 carts were emptied, and the total weight was 289,730 kilograms, for an average weight of 20.12 kilograms.
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Council tabled the new agreement between the Woodlawn Regional Park Authority and the Estevan Fire Rescue Service. Coun. Greg Hoffort wanted to wait to approve the document because it does have budget implications.
The agreement governs the cost of emergency incidents, fire suppression, alarms and other calls at the Woodlawn Regional Park.
