Board of Director’s Meeting – Minutes

Wednesday, August 10, 2022
Location: Online, 6:30 p.m.

Attendees: Eric Chabot (EC), Sara Bergsma (SB), Margaret Lara (ML), Colin Best (CB), Eric Parris (EP), Kristina Tesser Derksen (KTD), Rachel Shuttleworth (RS)

Regrets: Joe Taglieri (JT), Ian Campbell (IC), Miguel Gonsalves (MG), Julie Rock (JR)

Guest: Nancy Cuttle

SB called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m.

SB asked the board if there was any declaration of pecuniary interest or conflict of interest. None were made.

Review of previous minutes

    • CB moved to accept July minutes. KTD seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Presentation by Jeff MacIntyre – OBIAA’s CRM Project

  • Overview of Main Street RM 1.0 & OBIAA Main Street Analytics

Treasurer’s Report (delivered by RS)

  • Some event expenses still coming in from SummerFest, and some summer beautification expenses were incurred recently, so expenses for last month were a bit higher than in the spring. Some other fees and donations have come in related to SummerFest and other sponsorship.
  • First payment received for Hamilton Halton Brant Tourism Relief Fund.
  • 47% of budget spent to date.
  • Town adding a couple more revenue account codes to our budget to reflect recent grants we received.
    • CB moved to accept the Treasurer’s Report. ML seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Council Report

CB (Local & Regional)

  • Councillor Dilorenzo brought motion to Council to enable home-based businesses.
  • Town accepting suggestions for their 2023 budget.
  • Town passed short-term rental bylaw. This will help to deter party houses, which are disrupting some neighbourhoods.
  • Homeless situation currently underway downtown. Town working with social services to try to provide support for the person and encourage them to get help. Want to ensure support is provided to help make things better for this person. Police are aware and supporting the efforts underway.
  • Construction projects: Ontario Street will likely be refinished by end of September and then repaved. Major bridge replacement on Bronte Street scheduled to be completed in December. Hydro lines on Bronte moved underground in anticipation of Durante Group’s proposal. Waiting for Ontario Land Tribunal decision on that development. Other applications are coming in for along Bronte Street. One was approved at the last Council meeting (180 Bronte).
  • Meritor property – Developers have not submitted their application yet. Information will be posted on the Town website when it comes in.
  • The new bollards that were recently installed at Main & Martin are much better sturdier than the old ones.
  • RS – For the Town’s 2023 budget, BIA to recommend that the rest of the bollards at that intersection be replaced as well.
  • Also requested that the Town look at options to have power installed in Brown St lots so this can be used for downtown events.
    • ML moved to accept the Council Report. EC seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Executive Director’s Report   (42h25s)

 CRM project

  • CRM project will provide BIAs with a standard, clear and easy-to-use way to manage member and stakeholder information.
  • Provides valuable (aggregate) economic development insights for BIAs, economic development offices, etc related to their own communities and from across the province.
  • OBIAA seeking financial support to help provide matching funds for their CRM project funding.
    • EC motioned to sponsor the CRM project for $1,500. ML seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Administration

  • Summer students wrapping up this month. Lauren & Zach have done a great job and will be missed. Zach will continue to support part-time with litter clean-up.
  • AGM – Possible date: Wednesday, September 21 or sometime that week.
    • After the formal AGM portion, could have a presentation by police about graffiti & crime prevention through environmental design and/or public meeting with municipal candidates. Note OBIAA recently advised against public meetings with candidates.
    • CB – We’ve done these meetings in the past and work out well. We are hosting meetings for informational purposes for our members and the community, we are not endorsing specific candidates. Recommendation to proceed with candidate meeting.
    • Board recommends proceeding with candidate meeting and the police presentation as part of AGM event.
  • Marketing Coordinator – Posted position through local recruiter, targeting start date end of August/early September, started interviews this week.
  • Approved for Reconnect funding to support HolidayFest. Event happening Saturday, December 3.

Overview of Summerfest wrap-up report:

  • Total visitor spending was between $400k & $800k – generated money for local businesses.
  • Budget conservatively for these for future years as these can vary widely.
  • High volume of staff hours spent on event. Need sufficient trained staff in place to plan the event. May gain some efficiencies for next year because some of our processes and templates are established.
  • Positive responses from members. Many reported higher than usual sales, majority reported that they think the event will generate new businesses for them in the future and high number believe event positions the downtown as a vibrant centre of community and business.
  • Vendor and entertainer response very positive. Very high visitor response. Visitors spent on average over 3 hours at event.

Graffiti prevention recommendations

  • Police provided several recommendations on how to prevent graffiti/tagging on buildings. Suggestions around signage, lighting, pruning trees and bushes, etc. Could share recommendations with members in newsletters. Other ideas include security in key areas, graffiti wall near skateparks around town, etc.
  • Summer student has been taking photos of graffiti/tagging and we’ve been sharing with police, Town.
  • SB – Is there evidence that the public graffiti wall would deter graffiti elsewhere? Would be good to see examples of the impact it’s had in other places. RS to ask police and OBIAA about examples of this.
  • CB – Murals and public art also help deter graffiti/tagging.

Public Art Mural

  • Property owner planning to complete repairs on the wall before the painting starts in September.
  • Mural committee and artist have worked together to recommend a design for mural.
  • Artist – Omar Hopkinson, a creator and art collaborator. Art experience with school boards, companies/brands, public street art (ie Bell boxes, traffic barriers), fashion and shoes, etc. Knowledgeable, passionate and highly skilled.
  • Artwork – Themes and images in it include: multiculturalism, youth, nature, downtown history, family, Niagara Escarpment, active lifestyle, arts & culture, background will be a map of downtown. Vibrant, dynamic artwork in the centre, and then calming and subtle on the outsides. Some additional fine-tuning will be done to the design before it is painted on the wall.
  • There will be a public education element to the project – we’ll work with the artist to arrange something (ie zoom, face-to-face, video, etc).
  • EP – Great representation of lots of different aspects of life and living in Milton.
  • NC – The Milton Historical Society is interested in keeping the historic elements visible – this is achieved through the map and the buildings in this design. Map will also include a star showing people where they are standing at that moment so people can place themselves within the artwork. Map will be a sepia colour. This artist is thoughtful, listens to recommendations and will do a great job.
  • SB – Had a face-to-face meeting with the artist yesterday and it was fantastic to see his passion and ideas. He’s the right person to move the project forward.
    • CB motioned to accept the proposed mural design. EC seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Seasonal lighting

  • Request for quotations closed today for pole mount displays for downtown street poles. Lighting committee members will be reviewing the submissions then putting a recommendation forward to the board.
  • Will need to do an e-vote over the next couple days so we can move ahead and get the order in as soon as possible.

Downtown photos

  • We have a collection of photos of events and storefronts from 1990s to early 2000s. Zach is going to be spending some days scanning the photos in.
  • Board agreed to donate the photos to the Milton Historical Society and ask for the electronic files.
  • Most envelopes are labeled with a date/time/event.
    • CB motioned to accept the ED report, ML seconded the motion. Motion passed.

New business:

Julie Rock was excited to have joined the BIA board last month. However, she has had a health issue come up and needs to focus on that right now. We will hold the position for her until we hear more. RS will keep the board updated on this. We are wishing Julie the very best right now.

Adjournment

    • CB moved to adjourn. EP seconded the motion. Motion passed.
    • Meeting adjourned at 7:42 pm.