Facing the prospect of suspending the activities of the Elmira BIA, Mayor Todd Cowan says he’s willing to step in as interim chairman.
The organization representing downtown businesses is without a chair, and faces more vacancies on its board of directors following its annual general meeting next month. Current board members are calling on fellow businesspeople to help revitalize the group.
BIA treasurer Keith Schelter, who’s stepping down at the end of the year, said this week he’d like to see a full complement of new board members elected at the Nov. 14 AGM. While waiting for new people to step up, the BIA is in something of a holding pattern.
Four of the eight board positions, including the chair, will be available at the meeting. Cowan currently makes a ninth member as the representative of Woolwich council, but is open to the idea of serving temporarily as chair “if nobody wants to do it,” he said this week.
“We need some fresh blood. “I’d like to get more people involved.”
The alternative would be to suspend or even disband the organization. The Elmira Business Improvement Area was formed in 1980, ostensibly to help deal with major downtown renovations that began in that era – long-term debt associated with those improvements was retired in 2002. The organization is a committee of council, appointed by and answerable to the municipality, which sets the group’s budget, currently $40,000 a year. Most of the funding comes from a special levy on businesses in the downtown core, while $10,000 comes from a settlement with King/86 Developments over the Walmart-anchored power centre south of St. Jacobs.
This is not the first time the organization has been on the verge of suspension. A lack of new members for the board led to a similar discussion in the fall of 2004. The prospect of losing the BIA seemed to galvanize members into action, bringing new recruits to the board.
Addressing the current need, Cowan said business owners would regret the loss of the BIA if it came to that, arguing that in a few years someone downtown would be calling for an organization to boost the core.
Today’s situation is a good opportunity to “Stop and refocus” the vision and goals of the BIA, he added.
“We need to give people a reason to be involved.”
