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in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, Ja nu ar y 20 ,2 02 2 | 10 oakville.ca Virtual public information meeting on business licensing review on January 31, 2022 We want to hear from you! Provide your input on business licensing regulations and help town staff develop recommendations to update the town's business licensing by-law. Interested industry stakeholders, businesses and residents are invited to virtually attend a Council meeting on Monday, January 31, 2022 at 6:30 p.m. The business licensing by-law provides regulations and requires various businesses that operate in Oakville, including restaurants, nail salons, taxicabs, building renovators, landscapers, driving schools, and more to be licensed. Licences help ensure businesses are safe for the public while also helping to protect consumers. Businesses must follow by-law rules or they may be subject to fines. Included in the review is the opportunity to license additional businesses including: • payday loan establishments; • mobile personal service and motor vehicle services; and • private parking enforcement officers Public feedback received will help shape and update the town's business licensing by-law that will be presented to Council later this year. How to participate If you would like to speak at the virtual Council meeting, please email townclerk@oakville.ca. You will be provided with a Zoom link that will admit you into the meeting. To follow along without participating, watch our live stream on YouTube. Revisions will be presented for Council's approval later this year. Can't make the Council meeting? Send your comments to enforcementservices@oakville.ca Accessibility needs If you plan to attend and have accessibility needs, please contact Selena Campbell at 905-845-6601, ext. 3256 (TTY 905-338-4200), email selena.campbell@oakville.ca, or fill out the accessible feedback form on oakville.ca. Learn more Visit the Business Licenses page at oakville.ca or contact ServiceOakville at 905-845-6601 or service@oakville.ca Halton Police Chief Ste- phen Tanner reached a milestone this month, be- coming the longest serving active chief of police in Can- ada, This highlights an illus- trious 40-year career -- 20 of those as chiefs of police, including as head of Halton police for the past 10 years. Born in Oakville, Tan- ner joined the Halton Re- gional Police Service in 1982. He's had several roles within the service and was eventually appointed as the chief of police in Belleville and then Kingston before taking the top position in Halton in 2012, a responsi- bility he said he's grateful for and lucky to take on. "It's special to actually come back home," he said. Halton is, by and large, an economically prosper- ous region and has one of the lowest crime rates and crime severity index of a large municipality across the country, though it still has its share of crime, pov- erty and homelessness is- sues. "A low crime rate doesn't mean we don't have serious crime," the police chief said, naming mur- ders, shootings, abnormal opioid overdoses, human trafficking, and guns and gangs -- as they relate to vi- olent mass shootings across the GTA -- as some of the concerns. "We need to address those issues in a very sys- tematic and planned and deliberate way moving for- ward," he said. As chief, he helps lead front-line police officers, ci- vilian and support mem- bers of the service in an in- creasingly complex envi- ronment, where society and citizens expect even more from the police than they did 40 years ago, he said. But that's considered a good thing. "We have to make sure in today's day and age that ev- eryone is and feels that they are treated equally, free of discrimination and racism and all the different complexities that we face as a society these days," he said. He said Halton police maintain good relation- ships with various organi- zations and community partners, working together for the community and able to count on one another. However, there's still work to be done to further pro- mote equity, diversity, and inclusion. When mistakes happen, he said the police have to own up and make up for them in order to build trust. And with the rapid eco- nomic and population growth in Halton, which brings about staffing and resource pressures, he said the department has to be "very careful" in the use of its roughly $170 million an- nual operating budget -- with personnel costs mak- ing up about 90 to 95 per cent -- to meet the need of the communities when it comes to policing, as well as issues related to traffic. Among his achieve- ments, he's particularly proud that the department put in place a full-time or- ganizational wellness unit a few years ago in an effort to remove the stigma of mental health within the service, serving a great number of police members on a daily basis. "Mental health will al- ways be a priority for us," he said. As to what keeps him go- ing after four decades in the service, Chief Tanner said he doesn't consider what he's doing merely as work. "I enjoy it. I love it. I want to make a positive dif- ference for our community ... (and) for our members," he said. TANNER NOW LONGEST-SERVING POLICE CHIEF IN CANADA Stephen Tanner became head of the local police force in 2012. Graham Paine/Metroland BAMBANG SADEWO bsadewo@metroland.com NEWS HALTON POLICE HEAD REFLECTS ON MILESTONE AND STATE OF POLICING Chief Tanner earned a bachelor of arts degree at the University of Guelph. He achieved a master of public administration degree from the University of Western Ontario in 2011. In 2012, he was appointed by the Governor General of Canada as an Officer of the Order of Merit of the Police Forces. Currently, he also serves as chair of the Criminal Intelligence Service of Ontario and is co-chair of the National Police Services National Advisory Committee.