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may 5, 2021
Garage Sales Debated by Vegreville Town Council Michelle Pinon News Advertiser Even though the majority of Vegreville town councillors oppose garage sales, they did endorse a set of guidelines for
A D V E RT I S E Y O U R H O M E B U S I N E S S H E R E
residents to follow if they so choose to host one. Councillor Jerrold Lemko stated, “I support going ahead with garage and yard sales. It’s important to note they, (resi-
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dents) are already happening in our community whether we have a plan in place or not. As you can see driving around town you can see garage sales happening, but what I like about this that it gives the people the opportunity to have a garage sale, as long as they follow some guidelines. And those people who don’t agree with it, don’t go to the garage sales. You have a choice whether you attend it or not. There are those people who will seek out garage sales regardless of the state of the community right now with COVID. I support it with guidelines.” Councillor Ann Waters said she’s had people reach out to her about the garage sales, and voiced her appreciation regarding the guidelines that had been put forward by Community Services Director Phil Rowe. “I know our residents have been very vigilant about following sanitation, mask wearing, that kind of thing, and keeping our COVID numbers low, so that is very much appreciated. Guidelines will help instill that…I’m in support of it with the guidelines in place,” added Waters.
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Councillor Taneen Rudyk stated, “When we had this discussion last year we were at a different point in pandemic. Appreciate that there are some clear guidelines and suggestions about how to proceed safely. I just find it hard to understand that this is a wise decision at this point for people to hold or attend garage sales. The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo just declared a state of emergency due to the COVID numbers in their community and they were previously at a very small number. It’s just hard to understand how this is a wise decision at this time.” Mayor MacPhee said his feeling about garage sales hadn’t changed from last year. “I really don’t think we should be having garage sales. I don’t think we should encourage people to come to our town right now. I mean our COVID numbers are a lot higher now than they certainly were last year. This is my opinion. I just don’t feel right now with these variants that travel so fast to invite them to our community. But that’s not what we’re voting on here. We’re voting on the recommendation. The town to make recommendations to people who are going to hold garage sales with or without respecting the law at all. So, our decision is we are going to support the guidelines that we are putting forward.” Councillor Tina Warawa said she would be in favour of the guidelines, but wanted a disclaimer to be included in the guidelines. Councillor Marielle Brodziak stated, “I also don’t support having garage sales at this time. I agree it’s good to put out some definite guidelines how to host a safe garage sale.” She also wanted a disclaimer in the guidelines. Councillor Dave Berry stated, “I think the situation is we are not encouraging people to hold a garage sale. The differ-
garage sale debate - CONTINUED below
garage sale debate - CONTINUED from above ence between now and this time last year is we don’t have any provincial guidelines that would give this council the right to deny garage sales. What we are trying to do is give them a set of guidelines and hope that people will be wise enough to follow the guidelines and be very careful that our community remains safe.” In a follow up interview with Alberta Health Press Secretary Steve Buick, he stated that, “Municipalities do have the legal power to take a wide range of actions under the MGA, however, their authority to do that is delegated by the Province, and so we superior legal authority. We can reverse any measure that a municipality implemented. And naturally the municipality wants to be
consistent with the province and are very reluctant to take measures of their own. It just makes sense, right; you don’t want municipalities generally going off in all different directions, especially on something like public health. You want a high degree of consistency. So, in practice a municipality naturally works closely with the provincial government to share their concerns with us and urge us to take a consistent approach throughout the province.” Buick said garage sales are not prohibited under current orders. There are no specific rules, but people are only required to follow general good practice from this overall guidance for any business or other organization as relevant to them