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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-01-10Historic Downtown Bowmanville Business Centre (BIA) Board of Management Meeting Minutes Tuesday January 10, 2023; 6:30pm Virtual Meeting In Attendance: Edgar Lucas, Chair Laura Holmes, Secretary Gerri Lucas, Treasurer Cathy Holmes Ron Hooper Bonnie Wrightman, CBOT representative Regrets: Justin Barry Erin Kemp Delegations Present: none 1. Presentation by Delegations The Chair recognized that no delegations were present. 2. Updates from Community Partners (a) CBOT 33 new brick -mortar businesses opened in Clarington in 2022, with 10 in downtown Bowmanville. Vacancy is very low in downtown Bowmanville. BR&E business retention and expansion program run through OMAFRA is starting. Series of surveys to determine satisfaction will roll out likely in February. Shop local campaign will continue. 3. Adoption of Minutes Moved by R. Hooper, seconded by G. Lucas THAT the minutes of the meeting of November 8, 2022 be approved as circulated. CARRIED 4. Business Arising from Previous Minutes (a) 2023 Budget Working copy of preliminary budget was displayed on -screen, alongside the 2022 numbers. A 2.5% increase for 2023 is requested to reflect rising costs due to inflation. Total levy amount requested is $175 915.62. Historic Downtown Bowmanville 2 JANUARY 2023 Business Centre (BIA) Administration Events Special Promotions Marketing Streetsca pe Capital Works Contingency Fund Website Office Expenses/Utilities PROPOSED 2023 $ 82,200.00 $ 75,000.00 $ 1,000.00 $ 15,000.00 $ 32,750.00 $ 21,500.00 $ 5,000.00 $ 3,000.00 $ 2,500.00 Total Budget $ 237,950.00 less variable (vendor fees) -$ 44,764.52 less budget surplus -$ 17,269.86 NET TOTAL = LEVY $ 175,915.62 Moved by C. Holmes, seconded by R. Hooper THAT the proposed budget and finalized levy request for 2023 be approved and submitted to Council for approval. CARRIED (b) Election Moved by E. Lucas, seconded by L. Holmes THAT R. Hooper be elected Chair of the Board of Management for the term CARRIED Moved by G. Lucas, seconded by R. Hooper THAT E. Lucas be elected Director of the Board of Management for the term, with the responsibility of Streetscape portfolio CARRIED Moved by E. Lucas, seconded by L. Holmes THAT C. Holmes be elected Director of the Board of Management for the term, with the responsibility of Events portfolio CARRIED Moved by R. Hooper, seconded by G. Lucas THAT L. Holmes be elected Director of the Board of Management for the term, with the responsibility of digital portfolio, and position of Secretary CARRIED Moved by L. Holmes, seconded by C. Holmes THAT G. Lucas be elected Director of the Board of Management for the term, with the responsibility of member relations portfolio, and position of Treasurer CARRIED Moved by L. Holmes, seconded by C. Holmes Historic Downtown Bowmanville 3 JANUARY 2023 Business Centre (BIA) THAT E. Kemp be elected Director of the Board of Management for the term CARRIED (c) Legion Banners This topic was voted to be reopened for discussion in November 2022. Following the passing of a motion at the October 2022 meeting stipulating the future install date for banners as following Thanksgiving, Legion representatives reached out several times by phone and email to members of the Board of Management to discuss future install dates and strongly request that banners be installed at the beginning of October to coincide with several other communities in Ontario. Prior to the pandemic shutdown years, Legion banners were installed in late October in downtown Bowmanville. Early install was permitted in 2020 and 2021, owing to the pandemic but was never intended to result in a permanent change to schedule. In spring 2022, the Chair communicated with Legion representatives that the banner install would be permitted to begin following Applefest, returning to the pre -pandemic schedule. Following much contention, the banners were permitted to be installed immediately following Thanksgiving in 2022, allowing an additional week of viewing including prominence at Applefest. The banner poles downtown were originally purchased by and are maintained by the BIA. They are used for promotion and beautification of the historic downtown core, which is the mandate of the BIA. Granting permission of use comes at the cost of the BIA not being able to display its own banners. The board recognizes the importance and significance of the Remembrance Day banners and is proud to host these banners in the downtown. Discussion centered on whether to permit earlier install on a go -forward basis. Moved by R. Hooper, seconded by L. Holmes THAT Legion Remembrance banners can be installed no earlier than October 1 and must be removed promptly following Remembrance Day. The Chair will communicate this information to Legion representatives. CARRIED 5. Correspondence Correspondence was received from i. Planning Department re: Public Meeting Notice - Mearns Ave, Bowmanville (via email) ii. Planning Department re: Public Meeting Notice —Trulls Rd, Courtice (via email) iii. Planning Department re: Public Meeting Notice — Bloor St, Courtice (via email) iv. OBIAA regarding procedure for awards submissions (via email) V. (sent by email to Edgar Lucas) Doug MacCheyne regarding Veterans banners vi. (sent by email to Edgar Lucas) Doug MacCheyne regarding a proposal for Veterans banners vii. (sent by email to Ron Hooper) St. John's Anglican Church with compliments about Moonlight Magic Moved by G. Lucas, seconded by C. Holmes THAT the correspondence be received for information. THAT E. Lucas respond to item 5.vi. with an explanation regarding why banner poles cannot be placed on the streetside of lampposts. CARRIED 6. Treasurer's Report Historic Downtown Bowmanville 4 Business Centre (BIA) The Treasurer presented the following: Books will go to Treasury this week for year-end audit $62033.93 in current account (some outstanding payments from 2022) Moved by L. Holmes, seconded by R. Hooper THAT the Treasurer's Report be adopted as presented. CARRIED 7. Directors' Reports (a) Council Liaison — R. Hooper: JANUARY 2023 Reported that OBIAA webinar discussed a CRM tool that has been developed. Potential benefits will be data collection regarding downtown business sector and may be able to leverage for government support. Question raised about having standard operating hours for downtown businesses during the holiday season. Presents difficulty with independent owners. The streetlamp in front of Abernethy Paint is still out. (b) Events — C. Holmes: Reported that Moonlight Magic was a success with very large crowds. Market vendors noticed that spending habits had changed. Visits with Santa had to be cancelled on the first Saturday due to severe winds. Photos raised $2500 donation to Salvation Army over the two remaining Saturdays. Santa donated his fee to Bethesda House. CHFI radio ads were well received. (c) Membership Relations —J. Barry: No report. (d) Streetscape — G. Lucas: Reported that baskets and planters are standing up well. It was noticed that some of the decorations had been removed/stolen from one of the large planters. There was an accident at the crosswalk and one of the planters was destroyed. Options to replace the silver garland will be investigated. (e) Communications— (vacant): No report. (f) Website & Social Media — L. Holmes: Reported that there was a glitch with an update with the program that runs the interactive business directory map that caused an outage for approximately one day but was promptly fixed once recognized. There will need to be some updates to the website and vendor portal before the launch of 2023 events. 8. New Business No items. Historic Downtown Bowmanville Business Centre (BIA) 9. Date of Next Meeti JANUARY 2023 The next meeting of the Board of Management is scheduled to be held on Tuesday February 7, 2023 commencing at 6:30pm, virtually. 10. Adiournment Moved by C. Holmes, seconded by G. Lucas THAT the meeting adjourn. CARRIED The meeting adjourned at 9:17pm.