Members of the Downtown Nanaimo Business Improvement Association have dismantled the not-for-profit.
At a standing-room only special general meeting Wednesday, Downtown Nanaimo Business Improvement Association members voted 61-14 to dissolve the organization.
The DNBIA was created in 2010, the newest body to take on downtown revitalization after the Downtown Nanaimo Partnership Society and Downtown Nanaimo Partnership, the city website shows. The group had received a city grant that matched a levy collected from businesses and property owners until the city cut the funding in December. The organization has since laid off employees and donated its assets and the board made the motion to dissolve.
By dissolving, DNBIA president John Cooper told members it will prevent the city from continuing to take the levy and allow community discussion around a new funding model. To not support the motion would put the DNBIA in an “extremely difficult” position that requires it to develop and execute a 20-month strategic plan, develop a new funding model and campaign for support of a new bylaw.
“You are asking us to fulfill this massive undertaking with no staff, dwindling community support and a poorly functioning city council and staff. This is not a recipe for success,” he said.
Some members questioned the board’s reasons for dissolution and there were concerns about the assets, like a community stage, which had been donated prior to a decision Wednesday. Cooper said the board didn’t have the money or anywhere to store the assets, calling it a cash flow survival mechanism.
Elizabeth McCormick of Elizabeth’s Lingerie Drawer said she was feeling “pretty good” after the vote, but it’s going to be a lot of work.
“We need a downtown association, so a new one has to come up, but due to a lot of complicated things it was easier to dissolve it and begin again,” she said.
Glen Saunders, owner of Flying Fish, said he’s disappointed. He believes it will be a tough battle for downtown to get another BIA and it will be a tough sell to get people in the downtown core on board with a tax levy again.
“I get that there was problems with the association and the administration costs were obviously high. It needed to get reworked, and I was hoping today that the vote would have been to keep the structure in place,” he said.
Cooper said this is not a victory, but a first step in getting a BIA bylaw that has the full engagement of merchants, property owners and City of Nanaimo. He told the News Bulletin the DNBIA has set aside money to support a process to figure out a structure and will do everything in their power to support and facilitate community discussion.
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