THUNDER BAY – People looking for business licenses can now look a little more centrally in the city than Victoriaville.
The licensing and enforcement division is moving from Victoriaville Mall to a new location on Alloy Place to better align services with the corporate restructuring that the city went through last June.
Up until now, licensing, which is responsible for issuing business licenses as well as sign permits, remained at Victoriaville because the clerks that handled license enforcement had worked for development services.
Doug Vincent, manager of licensing and enforcement, said this move is one of the final moves to make sure the division aligns with the new corporate structure.
“The licensing and enforcement division was originally part of development and emergency services, which is here in Victoriaville.
"Over the last couple of years, we’ve transitioned the enforcement section along with the former animal services to create the new municipal enforcement services,” Vincent said.
“So, our department no longer exists and our animal services no longer exist - it's now an animal pound along with municipal enforcement services.”
The duties, including license issuance officially transition to 882 Alloy Pl. on Feb. 12, but during the transition any documents received in person or by mail to development services will be brought to municipal and enforcement services.
Vincent said the move will be a huge improvement to the division's ability to provide services.
“It consolidates everything in one location. So, when someone has a question about a business license, as a manager of licensing enforcement I would be able to answer that,” he said.
“Now, I'm no longer located at this location and nor are my officers or other support staff. It really makes sense to get everything centralized so that we can provide an immediate response to somebody in a timely manner.”
