Board of Director’s Meeting – Minutes

Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Location: online 6:30 p.m.

Attendees:
David O’Connell (DO), Joe Taglieri (JT), Colin Best (CB), Miguel Gonsalves (MG), Margaret Lara (ML), Sara Bergsma (SB), Eric Chabot (EC), Kristina Tesser Derksen (KTD), Cheryl Ciccarelli (CC).
Regrets:
Troy Newton (TN),

DO called the meeting to order at 6:38 pm.

DO asked the table if there was any declaration of pecuniary interest or conflict of interest. NO declarations were made.

DO asked the group to review the previous meeting minutes.

  • SB motioned to accept. JT seconded the motion. Motion passed

Treasurer’s Report (presented at meeting).

  • Treasurer’s report sent by MG
    • CC noted that technology purchase completed before lockdown and able to use laptops to successfully operate remotely
    • Begun looking at budget in light of Covid-19. Will probably not have to dip into reserves. Will bring more detailed report next month.
      CB moved to accept the treasurer’s report. ML seconded the motion. Motion passed.

Councillor’s Report:

KTD:

  • Focus continues to be on crisis mitigation – more regular meetings to get updates from staff.
  • Attended Chamber of Commerce webinar – more of what’s available to businesses and updates especially on commercial rent relief.
  • TOM: Mayor made a point about parks – parks are open but equipment is not.

CB:

  • Regional Council meeting with CAO and medical officer of health update – waiting for province to come down with phase 1,2,3 orders and guidelines.
  • Town and region closed to July 5 – waiting to see what results are of various Covid tests – looking for spikes.
  • Few construction projects Main – Bronte and Commercial street starting May 19
  • Some delays for permitting of non essential projects are delayed.

Eric joined meeting.:

  • JT moved to accept the Council report as presented. SB seconded the motion. Motion passed.

CC presented the Executive Director’s Report (attached).

  • TOM topped up flower beds in April. Norris completed initial work. Have recommended starting to replace 11 posts that are too low to the ground. Recommend start with 3 posts around Thai House this year as had some issues there last year. Then look at more next year. There is money in the budget for this.
    • SB: asked if we had discussed putting on buildings? CC: Norris put on different posts. With less severe weather this year, didn’t really have a true comparison.
    • No one had objections. So will go ahead with 3 posts this year.
  • Julie Speck – The flower shed will begin work week of June 1. Will do some additional work on Charles and Mill St.
  • Bought new computers and tech end of February 2020.
  • CSJ email received re: changes to position due to Covid19 – CC spoke to Rachel Shuttleworth about position before answering. Might offset marketing/admin person.
  • Main Street Construction – details in member newsletter. Begins Tuesday, May 19.
  • Office Notes: Mira will continue to work from home until schools return.
  • Live Events document from Town – some bias looking at virtual events – does this really do any good for our businesses? Does board want to look into this? EC: thinks it is a waste of time. ML: nice for continuity. KTD: any requests for them? CC: No. Just brought up as other bias are looking into this.
  • Should keep in mind will our members benefit?
    • CB: had request via social media re: having street shut down while maintaining social distancing so would like to investigate how this might happened. Santa Claus parade is looking at contingencies and having and October drop dead date. Want to look into this for next year now while we have the time.
    • CC also relayed info on Farmers’ Market status and concerns about how to host on main street. Looking at Virtual markets.
    • CC to continue to look at best practices as to how we might do events moving forward
  • CC discussed Mother’s Day promotion
  • CC discussed need to begin looking at website updates re: storefront
    • Committee discussed what it would cost and what changes would be required. DO discussed what would be possible and CC mentioned that $1500 is in budget. DO noted that much would be donated from BANG! He believes that licensing would be covered by this amount.
    • CC to discuss with David what changes are needed and work to make changes.
  • KTD motioned to accept report. ML seconded the report. Motion approved.

Other Business:

  • ML has cc heard about whether businesses are coming back or closing: CC: haven’t heard anything concrete except from CT Nails with concerns about rent relief. Working on a survey to understand this.
    • Committee discussed the fact that until rent relief program is revised or fully implemented, that we will not have a solid understanding of which businesses will survive.
  • EC: has the town talked about doing anything about property tax because not offering full services?
    • Committee discussed importance of a property tax reduction for small business in order to bring some certainty. Councillors agreed bring this up to town.
  • DO: asked if there was a need/opportunity for BIA to look at levy relief in light of savings that might be realized from events.
    • Committee discussed repercussions and options. Discussed that this should be reviewed in August when we should have a better understanding on potential of some events for Oct/Dec.

Adjournment:

  • ML moved to adjourn the meeting. DO seconded the motion. Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 7.24pm.