Push continues forward for Vauxhall Chamber of Commerce to become reality

By Cole Parkinson
Vauxhall Advance
cparkinson@tabertimes.com

The long standing push for a Vauxhall and District Chamber of Commerce (VDCC) is continuing on its long and winding road as they wait to continue on.

One of the major factors that has hindered the developments is the boundaries the Taber and District Chamber of Commerce currently inhabits.

During the VDCC’s meeting on Feb. 12, the members had the chance to discuss what happens next in their continued efforts of bringing a chamber to Vauxhall.

“The only thing that we really have to discuss here is the return application from Corporations Canada. There were little things on the bylaw that they wanted us to tweak but they will not even accept a new application for the simple reason of the boundaries of the Taber chamber has to be changed to what we wanted it to be changed. This is now stuck in what they call ‘Governor in Council’ which is like some secret order of Canada,” said VDCC President Joerg Klempnauer with a chuckle. “Nobody really knows who is in charge of it or how it works so it can take two weeks or two years.”

While the boundaries need to be changed, the members of the VDCC believe the Taber chamber have been informed of what needs to happen.

“My understanding was that the Taber chamber has contacted them and they have been told that it has been received but it’s in ‘purgatory’,” said Jennifer Schafer, VDCC member.

Upon submitting their bylaws they were informed of some changes that needed to be made as things progressed further.

Even though this may have complicated things further, the changes suggested were very minor and were needed only to clarify their bylaws further.

“The changes were very minor. They literally didn’t like specific words,” added Schafer.

When changes like this are made to certain bylaws, they don’t always receive direction on what needs to be changed so the members were thankful they had sufficient guidance in order to make the progress forward smoother.

“They could have sent it back without any changes and we would have been sitting in the dark but I appreciate that they have done this,” said Klempnauer.

With changes complete to the bylaws they had concerns on whether or not they would need to have the same 30 signatures from the meeting in November to file the new document.

“My inside feeling is when we do a change we will have to go through this whole rigmarole with the 30 signatures again to file this new and amended bylaw,” continued Klempnauer.

Schafer though was sure they wouldn’t need to assemble everyone again in order to continue forward with the process.

“I would say that we probably don’t need to have the 30 signatures again. We will have to have minutes that record that we had the bylaw changes approved at a general meeting and that it was approved by the proper majority as laid out in the bylaws. We will then have to submit it to Corporations Canada because they will make sure it falls within their guidelines of the board of trades act. As long as it does, it will be approved,” said Schafer. “My thought is if Corporations Canada hasn’t accepted these yet, these bylaws don’t actually exist. At this point you are really voting as to whether or not you are making the motion to accept these bylaws to submit to Corporations Canada.”

The revisions made to the bylaws were emailed to the 36 original VDCC members and none had come forward protesting any changes at the time of the meeting.

Council made a motion to accept the bylaw changes that were presented on Feb. 12 and added they were circulated to the original members, which was passed unanimously.

They also decided to inquire with the Taber and District Chamber of Commerce in order to be notified when they receive word that the boundary changes have been approved.

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