Everyone held their peace when town council passed a bylaw Monday to provide for the licensing of marriages by the town.
“We say I do,” said Mayor Dave Augustyn.
The bylaw will allow the Office of Registrar General of Ontario to list Pelham as an issuer of marriage licenses.
The town clerk can obtain the forms and set up training for issuing of marriage licences and performing civil marriages.
Town clerk Nancy Bozzato said it will take a few weeks to go through the process with the province.
Meanwhile, she is checking with other municipalities to see how they conduct marriages.
Some she said do it once a week, others on demand, and couple will perform them on weekends.
“We have a small staff,” which she said limits what Pelham can do.
However, she said marriages could be performed in the council chamber at the Fonthill municipal building, in Peace Park or at the recently renovated Old Pelham Town Hall.
The clerk’s department already issues burial permits for funeral homes registering deaths, 79 within Pelham and 99 outside during 2014.
It registers births within the town.
“We have some home births performed by midwives,” she said.
Hospital births are registered by the municipalities where the hospital is.
However, the town had not set up marriage licensing since it was formed in 1970.
“We have had people coming in asking about it,” she said. “We had to send them to other municipalities, now we can offer this service.”
The town will charge a $125 fee for that service.
