By Cecilia Nasmith
Another option has opened up for couples wishing to marry on that most romantic holiday of the year, Valentine's Day.
Cobourg council this week authorized a special promotional idea from a staff report by licensing office Angela Stewart at this week's committee-of-the-whole session.
It all begins with promoting civil-marriage ceremony services that qualified staffers can offer on the town's website and social-media platforms. But for that special day, the $300 fee is reduced to $140, which includes a half-hour's rental of the beautiful Old Bailey Courtroom (instead of the usual hour). And the shorter time for services would allow for more services that day.
And for one lucky couple, the report continued, the $140 would be waived. Which service that might be will be determined by a social-media give-away organized by the town's communications department.
As accountable public servants with knowledge of marriage licenses and the associated administrative procedures, municipal clerks have been authorized to perform civil marriages since 2004.
In Cobourg, for more than a decade, legislative-services staff have offered civil-marriage ceremony services on Friday afternoons. In recent years, there have typically been more than 50 such ceremonies a year that generate more than $15,000 in revenues.
The report said that they are hoping to promote general awareness of this service with their big Valentine's Day event. At this time, Stewart said, they hope to offer 14 ceremonies at $140 each, for a potential revenue of $1,820 (factoring in the one give-away ceremony).
