Thursday January 18th, 2024
9:04am to 10:18am
In Attendance: Eva Martens, Brenda Eszenyi, Terry Rhodes, Subbu Subramonian,
Additional: Jim Foreman, Diane Hines, Kathy Archer, Sharla Armstrong, Stephanie Oliver
Absent: Esther Pauls
A. Welcome & Introductory Remarks: Chair E. Martens
Big agenda with lots to tackle.
B. Review & Approval of the Agenda: Chair E. Martens
Approval Motion: Subbu Subramonian,
Seconded: Terry Rhodes
C. Review & Approval of November & AGM Minutes: Chair E. Martens
AGM Minutes Approval Motion: Terry Rhodes
Seconded: Subbu Subramonian
Tabling the November minutes. - Motioned by Chair E. Martens
D. Board changes:
● Introduce and formally motion to accept new board members Diane Hines - Made you Look Optical
Jim Foreman with the Cancer Assistance Program.
Motion to Approve Nominations of Diane Hines: Eva Martens
Seconded: Subbu Subramonian
Motion to Approve Nominations of Jim Foreman: Subbu Subramonian
Seconded: Eva Martens
● Accept resignation of Sarah Matacic
Motion to Approve Resignation of Sarah Matacic: Eva Martens
Seconded: Subbu Subramonian
● Motion to remove Joanne Emberson based on board policy regarding meeting attendance.
Motion to Approve Removal of Joanne Emberson: Terry Rhodes
Seconded: Eva Martens
Chair mentioned that our board requires 6 members at minimum to function as a board as per our procedures and by-laws and thanked our new board members for joining us to allow us to function. Also it was noted that there have been people who have reached out on our website contact forms about joining the board or committees and with Eva now having access to this information will follow up with those individuals and hopefully build up our board with more new and energetic members.
E. OLD Business:
Branding contract award - review presentations -
Motion to select?
● Unicorn rebellion
● Socially Infused
Chair mentioned that both companies presented at our November meeting. S. Subramonian mentioned that the proposals were large and more time was required to review them. E. Martens reviewed some of the details of both and said we couldn't’ go wrong with either option.
Chair motioned to Table this decision.
Seconded by S. Subramonian.
- BIA Awards of Excellence Nominations have been submitted in Dec to City Council. Was completed by Alexa Chavez.
- Changing board meeting frequency to quarterly from requiring 9 per year. This change would reduce the frequency for board members to be in attendance and hopefully get more members able to be a part of our board. To formally change this will require a modification of our procedural by-law. Chair E. Martens mentioned that International Village BIA has this meeting structure and it works well for them. B Eszenyi agreed that it would be good to have the quarterly meetings. S.
Subramonian asked about meeting length and board business piling up and based on International Village BIA it might extend the meetings to 1.75 hours.
Chair E. Martens would like to add more frequent community focused meetings led by the ED with a board member representative to answer questions.. And we could host the community centered meetings at different times to allow for more community involvement.
This was table by the chair.
- Office Security Cameras (currently on hold until we hire a new ED)
- Complaint Policy - waiting for one more signature then will be published online and active
F. NEW BUSINESS
- Official acceptance of Alexa Chavez’ departure from Executive Director position.(as per Dec 18th notification)
- New hiring manager in place to proceed with interviews. Patty Hayes who has been involved with BIAs in
Hamilton for 20+ years (note this was approved by email to expedite process )
Motioned by B. Eszenyi
Seconded by S. Matacic
- Hiring committee - still need one more member to join committee. Eva Martens and Diane Hines currently on the committee.
We have had 11 candidates that applied - and narrowed down to 4 excellent candidates. Interviews to be conducted in the coming week with intention have someone hired by February 1st.
- CHCH marketing budget approval - see presentation - City Grant applications were completed by Alexa Chavez prior to Dec 15th
Motioned by S. Subramonian
Seconded by B. Eszenyi
- Change cellphone costs for ED. Phone buy out with bring your own phone plans to remove any outstanding
liabilities if future audits. Requires the CS BIA to supply a cell phone in the future without a payment plan.
Motioned by S. Subramonian
Seconded by Terry Rhodes.
G. Financial report
- Final Audit documents from 2022 completed. Motion to accept.
Motioned by E Martens
Seconded by B. Eszenyi
H. Safety Report: Jim Foreman
- Coach Lanterns (Quote will be required for defective lanterns to be removed prior to proceeding)
Additional by J. Foreman.
Dealing with 555 Concession Street and the continuation of the squatting issue, which is now been dealt with by locking the ATM at 5 o'clock by Zarky’s
Relating to the condition of the street, instead of using paint as graffiti someone has etched the glass on the bus shelter at the corner on the north side of Concession at Summit. Also a number of the decorative wraps around the traffic light control box have been sprayed with graffiti.
Also related to 555 Concession St, a complaint was lodged regarding garbage being put out before the bylaw required time of seven pm.. It really had to do with an issue of the dumping related to residential garbage being brought in and there being more than the allotted quantity.
S. Subramonian noted that there is a grant for graffiti removal. B. Eszenyi mentioned that the unit beside her store was tagged and the grant has been applied for by her landlord. Jim Foreman noted that many of the items tagged with graffiti are city assets and so E. Martens noted to follow up with the city to see who is responsible for them. She also mentioned that the BIA office has a pressure washer for graffiti removal.
I. Beautification Committee: E. Martens
- Winter Planters - Thanks to At Your Home renovations and Mountain Kidz Klub for building and painting the snowflakes. They were not positively received unfortunately based on social media. We needed better communication about these to the community around their intention. Hopefully we can build on these for next year to improve.
- Snow Globes were received Dec 22nd and the Chair and several volunteers came to help paint them. We were unable to complete this prior to the holidays. Intention is to Install this week at the ends of our BIA and at Upper Wentworth and at E22nd.
J. Marketing Report: E. Martens
- CHCH Live on Location Holiday Filming was a success.
- Take-out at the View - See Attached document for full details. Capitalizing on our location next to escarpment and new picnic tables to market people coming to Concession to grab takeout and bring it to the park to enjoy the food with our stunning view.
Discussion with group. Jim Foreman suggested caution with using bags, as many people already hand out bags. Eva Martens said the intention was to start out slowly with smaller orders that we can get locally from Concession St. vendor Promo Pig. K. Archer cautioned that Mountain Drive Park is not complete and some usage might be limited. S. Armstrong suggested to do a test run in early spring over march break to get parents from GL Armstrong to work out any kinks. Overall enthusiasm for the idea.
- Social media with the Generator going well. E.Martens will film some segments with Suzanne to get some direct communication out to the community. Suggest to extend contract to end of February.
Motioned by B. Eszenyi
Seconded by E. Martens
K. Events Committee: E. Martens
- Ideas for Easter.
K. Archer noted that the Mountain Kidz Klub is having an Easter event on the Good Friday but would be happy to help out with an event on the Saturday.
- Need to start planning for Streetfest. E. Martens noting that Patty has said that it requires almost 3 months of full-time work to pull of an event as large as Streetfest. Creating a committee is a priority!
Also exploring different funding models, including charging for admission. Eva offered perhaps to we start do a donation and some discussion on that with S. Armstrong considering using the kids who already help with the donation work
- Streetfest Committee volunteers?
None at this time.
Meeting adjourned at 10:18 am
*January 2024 meeting minutes approved by the board of directors: February 15, 2024 @ 9:05 a.m