Holyrood council still chasing unregistered businesses
By Mark Squibb
Holyrood council is continuing its effort to get all business owners to register their enterprises with the Town.
“We still have issues with nonregistration of companies and businesses here in Holyrood,” said Deputy Mayor Michele Woodford, who raised the issue during the November 18 public council meeting. “It’s still a struggle. But it’s on our radar. We’re trying to do everything we can to entice all businesses to register with the Town. We have to come up with, I guess, a new approach, and a new vision, in 2026, of how we’re going to be successful with that. If anyone has any ideas, we welcome that idea. We’re going to reach out to other communities to see what they’re doing and what’s working for them, and hopefully we can take some of that information and see what works for us.”
Woodford assured registered business owners that the issue is on the Town’s radar and that Town staff are trying to get those who are non-compliant to register.
“We will continue to do that until we’re successful at it,” said Woodford.
Mayor Laura Crawley concurred it’s “an ongoing battle,” and added that unregistered businesses miss out on opportunities that are available to registered businesses, such as marketing by the Town.
“I think it’s very unfortunate they don’t see the value in registering, and how much potential business they could gain by doing that,” said Crawley. “But hopefully, like you said, we’ll reinvent the message. We’ll figure it out.”
Councillor Steve Winsor ventured to guess some business owners may not be aware of the services the Town offers its registered businesses.
“The other piece though, is being a good corporate citizen in the town,” said Winsor. “It’s not fair to the existing business owners who are registered and paying their share and also availing of some opportunities that come back to them. It’s not fair to them. So, how you chase that down is a very good question. It’ll be interesting to see what other municipalities are doing.”