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Home My WebLink About2011-01-12 Minutes MINUTES OF THE ORONO DBIA MEETING Held on Wednesday JANUARY 12, 2011 at 6:00 P.M. at Patriot Antiques Main Street, Orono, Ontario, PRESENT: EXECUTIVE: Chairperson Annette Gray—Patriot Antiques Treasurer Chris Townsend—The Hedgehog Secretary Absent—(Chris Townsend took minutes) DBIA MEMBERS: Marg Zwart-Orono Weekly Times, Karen Lowery-Terrens, Scott Story, Jude Allison—Judeful Designs, Chris Noseworlhy—Orono Pizzeria, Yvonne &Frank Maitland—Apple Blossoms, Shona Wilson—The Hedgehog,John Dunbar—Main through Church GUEST(S): Willie Woo—Regional Councilor,Ashley Townsend—Vintage AC.T Regrets, Vickey Holbrook--Victoria's Attic ITEM DESCRIPTION ACTION 1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Annette Gray at 6:00 p.m. 2.Approval of Agenda "Move to approve the agenda as presented" Moved by Annette Gray, seconded by Chris Townsend MOTION CARRIED 3. Declaration of Conflict of Interest No conflict was declared. 4.Approval of the November 17, 2010, Orono DBIA Meeting Minutes Errors or Omissions . None "Move to approve the November 17, 2010, Orono DBIA meeting minutes as presented". Moved by Annette Gray, seconded by Chris Townsend MOTION CARRIED 5. Guest Presentations Ashley Townsend —Informed the committee that she is interested in planning a show to promote local Fashion, Arts & Music and would like to use the Town Hall for an evening. Ashley is looking for information on who to contact regarding the hall use and anyone interested in helping with the event, has some ideas for the show,or is interested in participating in the show is welcome to contact her. Ashley is in "The Hedgehog"every Wednesday& Thursday. 1 6. Outstanding Items 7. Now Business a) The outgoing Executive members were presented with a gift of appreciation from the committee for all their hard work over the past few years-they have earned a well deserved break. b) A Budget amount for"All Occasions Gifts"was discussed and agreed that$60.00 per gift would be budgeted. c7 Karen agreed to look after the purchase of gifts for special occasions. d) Continue to contribute to the Chili Cook Off e) Advertising & Marketing Discussion -Jude has a contact in advertising who lives in Orono—should we get together to discuss the best use of funds? -Should we focus some efforts on local market advertising? -Website Updated or create a new website—we need a professional looking website that can be updated regularly—if we can achieve that with someone local that would be great but if not we need to go outside of the area. Site is: www,visitorono.com -Clarington site should have a link to our site. - Everyone is encouraged to come up with ideas to promote Orono—Chris recommended a Facebook page - Discussed The Marketing Minds Group and Newspapers such as, Shoppers Choice, Curious, Way Sack Times, Harrowsmith and other magazines, Snap newspaper we should be sure to inform them of events in Orono - Marketing minds has a meeting on January 18, 2011 any business owners interested in learning more about this group are welcome to attend. -The Antique Trail flyer with insert—2500 were purchased last year— It was agreed that this was worth the investment. -The Town/CIP flyer is extremely outdated —Scott will talk to Faye f.angmade in regards to getting this updated 2 - Discussed co-operative efforts with advertising amongst merchants—getting more bang for our advertising buck this appeals to many of the merchants—more research and pricing will be needed -follow-up required. f) Frank brought up that we need a much nicer sign at Main St. &5th concession to welcome and direct people to Downtown Orono—Everyone agreed -Willie Woo will look into this. g) Bridge repairs—will occur in 2012 or 2013--bridge will be closed for 3 months during the summer—at a meeting that took place at the bridge Annette asked for sidewalks to be installed as part of the project-- there is great concern as to how the traffic will be redirected and how this will affect the downtown businesses—there must be adequate signage by the contractor to redirect traffic. h) John brought up the great need for public washrooms to ensure the success of having a vibrant downtown and to keep people coming back—everyone agrees that this is an issue that needs to be addressed. Most businesses are on septics or very small holding tanks and this is an issue to opening up their washrooms to the public due to the added costs of pumping out these systems.—More research needs to be done to see if any grants are available, what is involved in a project like this, what options do we have in town that perhaps we can develop an existing location, is there property available to build a new facility, do we use some of the monies coming from the Big Box Developer agreement or from our GIC, will the Regional or Municipal governments contribute, etc. ij Big Box Developer Money—when Walmart went into Bowmanville, local communities that did not oppose the development shared in a financial agreement from the developer. Orono DBIA shares in this agreement. The money is to be paid in installments over a period of years—no payments have been received as of yet-terms are unclear to us at the moment but we should find out the details and did we get a fare share? j) Yvonne reminded the committee that the DBIA has monies in a GIC that was received from a film shoot in town several years ago—we may have to transfer this money into our account. 3 k) Town Hall Clock &Bell—the clock has not been working for some time—a local electrician has been volunteering time towards the repair as he has free time—this appears to be a very complicated repair and there appears that structural repairs may also be required. John mentioned another community to the west may have had a similar issue resolved—it may be worth some research to talk to them and their contractor to get more information on costs, etc. Willie Woo will investigate if there are any grants or assistance available for this type of repair to a historical building. 1) Open Doors Tour will be on a Saturday this year m) Antique Bus Tours--Chris Townsend has a contact who is interested in putting together bus tours to Orono he will try to arrange to have her come to our next meeting to present her proposal to the committee. Annette is also looking into bus tours. n) The committee agreed that we will make the monthly DBIA meeting on the second Wednesday of each month at 6 pm. o) Please forward items to be added to the next meeting Agenda by Tuesday one week prior to the meeting, 8. CIP Committee Report -Scott a) Scott informed the committee that the Orono Park will soon be turning 90 years old and that Sharon the liaison from the town has discussed making this a special event. It will fall around Canada Day and ideas for special activities are most welcome--one idea brought forward was resurrecting the Calathumpian Parade. The DBIA should set up an Orono Park sub-committee Scott will head this. b) The Chili Cook Off Committee was able to donate$2400.00 to the Clarington Bast Food Bank from the proceeds from the 2010 event. Well done to all the volunteers who assisted with their hard work in making the Chili Cook Off a Great Success! c) BIA Bucks—We have had instances where merchants would not accept the BIA bucks—it is unclear if this was just due to staff not being informed in downtown businesses about this program or for other reasons. We encourage merchants in the downtown to accept the BIA Bucks as cash to create unity and to keep customers coming to Orono and participating in our events. These events benefit all our businesses by introducing people to Orono and keep them coming back. Scott will make up a sign that each business can post in their shop promoting the BIA bucks. We can draft a letter that can be sent to each business explaining the BIA Bucks program. Merchants who receive BIA Bucks can give them to the treasurer(Chris Townsend at THE HEDGEHOG) and he will reimburse you for them, 4 9.Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m. by Annette Gray The next Regular Orono DBIA Meeting will be held at 6 pm on Wednesday, February 9th, 2011 at Patriot Antiques Main Street Orono, ON SIGNED THE DAY OF 2011. CIS Chairperson Treasurer Secretary 5