(file photo/paNOW Staff)

By Susan McNeil

Pre-paid fuel bylaw

Council not warm to idea of pre-paid fuel bylaw

Jan 10, 2023 | 3:52 PM

A request to have fuel pre-paid in the city met with little welcome from city council, and the final vote defeating a motion to respond to a letter from the police commission asking for a change.

Coun. Dennis Ogrodnick said it is not the city’s job to regulate how businesses collect payment for services.

“I’m a little bit uncomfortable in passing a bylaw in telling business how they collect money from selling a product, in this case gasoline,” he said.

That goes beyond what the job of a municipality is, Ogrodnick said.

Coun. Tony Head commented that he also is reluctant to make such a rule but added that he is glad it is going back to the police services so they can talk to business owners about what they would like to see.

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Blake Edwards said spending officer time investigating fuel thefts when they are needed elsewhere should be part of the discussion.

“There is a need in the city and in the province for something to be implemented,” he said. “I don’t think some of the full service stations are being impacted as much but some of them are. We need the police resources for other things”

Some provinces, including Alberta and British Columbia, have passed laws that require all fuel purchases to be pre-paid; a move that Edwards speculated Saskatchewan might do as well.

As always how to enforce bylaws is a consideration.

Coun. Ted Zurakowski said that he is not opposed to pre-paid fuel regulations, but it needs to be done provincially and not by municipal bylaw.

“If it’s an issue here, you can guarantee it’s an issue in other cities and way more conversation needs to take place before we go knocking on the doors of businesses,” he said.

Don Cody, who is councillor in Ward 4, wondered if a bylaw would just allow for pre-paid sales if the owner wanted or would force the business in charging customers ahead of time.

The motion to respond to the letter was defeated, with Mayor Greg Dionne, Charlene Miller, Head, Cody and Zurakowski all voting against it and Councillors Terra Lennox-Zepp, Dawn Kilmer, Ogrodnick, Edwards in favour.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com