Board of Directors Meeting Minutes- March 2023

Board of Director’s Meeting – Minutes

Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Location: Online via Zoom 6:30 p.m.

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

Guest: Tom Dusmet (TD), Michael Falcone (MF)

Regrets: Julie Rock (JR)

SB called the meeting to order at 6:32 p.m.
SB asked the board if there was any declaration of pecuniary interest or conflict of interest. None were made.
Motion to accept the previous meeting minutes by CB, seconded by MG. Motion passed.

Treasurer’s Report (MG)

• Total expenses to date have been around $27k split evenly over the first two months. Mostly just standard operating costs. Our budget for 2023 is $406k.
• Revenues – in January received half of our annual levy (total levy is $258k for the year). In February, we received payments related to two of our 2022 funded projects.
• RS – Submitted our final report for our 2022 Reconnect grant so we received our final payment for that – $7k. Also received payment for Canada Community Revitalization Fund – $22k. More reporting and a final payment still outstanding for this fund.
o CB moved to accept the Treasurer’s Report. EC seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Council Reports

Local (KTD)
• Community Stakeholder Engagement survey has wrapped up. Random phone survey by the Town to ask residents, etc. for feedback on Town services. Report will be available soon.
• Seasonal patio will continue into the 2023 season. Will be an auto-renewal model for returning participants. Will start on Victoria Day weekend, along with the Farmers’ Market.

Regional (CB)
• Had a housing workshop today at the Region, reviewing where we stand in terms of housing. Looking at the development of the Allendale property. Reviewing ways to assist with homelessness.
• Currently at Federation of Canadian Municipalities board meetings in Ajax, discussing key issues.
• Waiting for an application from Neatt Communities for Meritor property.
• Had a meeting on Monday related to Fieldgate Homes’ new development – 1,129 homes at corner of Bronte & St. Laurent, and a plaza. Bronte will get busy with the construction happening.
• TD – How will the Town deal with the increase in delays and busyness in the area?
• CB – Construction could take a couple years. By 2025, Tremaine Road intersection will be open. Staff looking at encouraging more transit. Fieldgate is building a plaza so hopefully people will walk there.
• TD – Can the municipality find a way to force builders to finish construction faster?
• CB – Labour and supply change challenges are making construction difficult. Lots of worksites are looking for staff.
o EP moved to accept the Council Reports. IC seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Executive Director’s Report (RS)
• Joe Taglieri has resigned from the board. We’re sad to see him go! His input and feedback have helped make our board stronger and we appreciate everything he has done.
• Marketing coordinator has left and we hired Lauren (student who worked with us last summer). Lauren is part-time with us while she wraps up her degree and will start full-time at end of April.
• Reached out to four businesses for quotes for Directors & Officers insurance. Have received one so far, will receive second quote shortly.

ED transition:
• SB – Interviewed some candidates last week and didn’t find the right fit. Challenging time to hire. Consultant we have been working with has reached who she can through the current channels. We
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suggest going to a recruiter as the next step. Recruiter actively reaches out to candidates and uses a wider range of channels to promote positions.
• RS – We had 80 applicants, consultant did phone interviews with 8-9 people and we interviewed some. Recruiter we spoke to suggests bumping salary range up a bit.
• CB – Many municipalities and companies are seeing staff being poached. The ED position is an important role and we want to make sure we have the right candidate. We should hire the recruiter.
• EC – The ones that applied already have been reviewed and there didn’t appear to be a fit.
• KTD – Chamber just hired, could ask the recruiter to check with them about possible applicants.
• EC – Salary is a challenge. We need to attract and retain the right person.
• MF – Have been through this before, we had to increase the salary significantly to get the right person.
• MG – Surplus would be eroded over time if we go beyond our levy increase.
• SB – Need to focus on fundraising aspect of the role. Our salary range is toward top of scale relative to other BIAs our size. If we go higher, we’d need to fundraise enough or cut back on event spending.
• TD – Could consider a base salary plus bonus/commission based on performance.
• EC – Concern that creating a pay for performance model incentivizes the fundraising and other parts of job get left out. ED only has oversight once a month so it’s hard to monitor. Maybe make a bonus based on overall performance.
• MF – Consider bi-annual reviews, and opportunity to earn additional dollars as long as base performance measures are met. Or, do we eliminate all this trouble if we just increase the salary a bit.
• TD – Could talk to the recruiter about whether it’s worth exploring benefits further. Some people might be more interested in benefits than in a higher salary.
• RS – Estimate that if we were to go on Town benefit plan it would cost around an extra $25k per year.
• CB – BIA, Library and Milton Hydro all have their own boards that manage them. They don’t answer directly to Town Council. They can all adopt similar policies if they decide to.
o CB moved to hire the recruiter, and to ask him for input on salary and a bonus structure. IC seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Reviewing policies:
• No changes to suggest for electronic voting policy or conflict of interest policies.
• Constitution will need to be reviewed based on the new and updated policies we are working on.

• Personnel policy –
o TD – ‘Employees will devote their full working time and attention to the BIA’ – applicable to part-time employees?
o MF – This is about employees being required to work for the hours they are being paid.
o RS – We follow the Town’s holiday calendar which indicates which days full and part-time employees have off. We encourage team to use lieu days in the calendar year, or early in the following year upon approval from manager.
o CB – It is a statutory obligation so employers have to give people time off for jury duty (can be unpaid).
o Parental leave of absence – do we have to do 13 week minimum prior to them getting time off? RS to confirm with Ontario legislation.
o Other topics addressed: cost of living adjustments, mileage, use of personal vehicles, conferences, work from home, monitoring of equipment use, public representation, complaints, etc.
o RS to update policy based on board and HR feedback and bring back to board for approval.

• Purchasing policy –
o Proposing that the ED be able to approve purchases up to $1,500 (up from $1,000), two officers be able to approve purchases up to $2,500 (up from $1,500) and anything above that goes to the board for approval.
o Note that the policy indicates that any approvals made by two officers between meetings needs to be brought to the disclosed at the next board meeting and included in the minutes.
o CB moved to adopt the recommended threshold amounts for purchase approvals. EP seconded the motion. Motion passed.

• Board of Management policy –
o Took elements from Municipal Act, our Constitution, our board orientation documents, OBIAA and other BIA policies. Covers purpose, term, membership eligibility, responsibilities, etc.
o Community member participation – Some BIAs have policies around board composition. Having a policy will help ensure we have a variety of strengths and opinions on the board and continue to maintain a strong voice from BIA members. Recommending a maximum of three people on the board that are not BIA members (don’t pay the levy), or councillors. They would need to be recommended by a BIA member and could hold their position for one term (unless the person is selected by the board as an officer). We get a lot of interest from residents wanting to join and need to have good representation from BIA members as well.
o Policy maintains some requirements we had in our board documents previously – board members must attend 75% of our board meetings in the year, and they must get involved in things outside of board meetings – ie events, projects, committees, expense approvals, etc.

SummerFest
• Planning is underway and things are coming together well. Vendor and entertainer applications are open. Sorting out logistics, working on sponsorship.

Winter event
• Had second meeting with the Tiger Jeet Singh Foundation to discuss what the potential budget would be for the event and where funding could come from (ie contribution from BIA, Singh family and Town).
• We propose that BIA contribute some dollars and also staff time.
• They would manage sponsorship but we discussed possibly adding a lower level sponsorship for smaller companies/business that just want some basic exposure and a booth on the street.
• TJSF are agreeable to a Saturday and would like to move it to a later afternoon/evening event.
• They would like to keep their branding, so we wouldn’t use HolidayFest, and I think that’s fine.
• Area of caution/consideration – They have volunteers but no staff so we would be the ‘staff’ to run much of the logistics for the event. It is hard to find staff right now, but I do think the team in the office would do a fantastic job and the partnership presents a lot of great opportunities for our members and the community.
• CB – Please give everyone lots of notice. Tell them early and often about what’s happening and when.
o CB moved to accept the ED report. IC seconded the motion. Motion passed.

New Business
• ML – I’m going to be resigning from the board and this will be my last meeting. I’ve been involved in the board for eight years and it’s been a great experience being involved. I’ve communicated my intentions to RS already.
• SB – A sincere thank you for all the contributions. It’s been great working with you.

Adjournment
o CB moved to adjourn. ML seconded the motion. Motion passed.
o Meeting adjourned at 7:52 pm.)