- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor

One phrase came up repeatedly at tonight's special meeting of the Owen Sound Downtown Improvement Area - “We're all in this together”. In the discussion and outcome, however, it appears the members and the City are not all on the same page.

In exchange for a promise of free parking throughout the downtown and indeed the whole city, the decision appears to have been made to pass $180,000 of the DIA budget to the City coffers. The money comes from an annual levy members pay over and above their commercial property taxes.

After Deb Blackshaw, the DIA manager, retires at the end of February the DIA itself will no longer have an office or staff. All administrative, maintenance, beautification, events and marketing work will be done by city employees. It was unclear whether the current maintenance crew chief and the part-time office staff will be offered positions with the city.

City Manager Wayne Ritchie, who first proposed the arrangement earlier this year, presented the Memorandum of Understanding that outlined what the City was prepared to undertake on behalf of the downtown area. He stated that it would not be revenue neutral for the City right at the start. In particular he said he had committed to the City's events and marketing staff “who work very hard now” that adding the DIA responsibilities would not cause them to be “out five nights a week”. It is possible, he said, that the City might be hiring in that area, but Parks and Works departments could do downtown maintenance and beautification with existing crews.

Voices in favour of the changes focussed on the competitive advantages and lack of confusion if all parking throughout the city were free. Details about clear signage and length of stay in municipal lots remain to be determined, but the need for fairness for all businesses and customers was clearly articulated. Some considered it an experiment worth trying.

Councillor Peter Lemon spoke strongly in favour of the changes, citing his visit to Brockville to see the benefits of free downtown parking. Ironically, Brockville now has" 2 hour complimentary parking on designated streets and metered parking on the remainder of the streets at the cost of $1.00 per hour" and 7 paid municipal lots with rates that vary by lot.

Other speakers suggested that too many consequences of these changes had not yet been considered.

Peter Reid, owner of the Chicago Building on 10th Street East, referred to the lack of available customer parking in previous years when lots that were free in December were filled with downtown employees' cars before customers arrived.

Leigh Greaves was a former Chair of the DIA through the city's Big Dig, and she commended the DIA board for taking on the challenging issues of parking. She spoke on behalf of the Harmony Centre, “a charity that houses other charities”, and she said she did not think the board had answered all the questions that needed answering before taking this big step. For example, the Centre depends on volunteers who often stay longer than the proposed two hour limit, she said. “We actually like having meters....because now they can feed a meter to get more time.”

Morag Budgeon is manager of the Artists' Co-op which has been a DIA member for 18 years. She said it was imperative that the DIA retain one paid employee who would understand the big picture of the downtown issues. Because the board members have their own focus, she said,  having a staff person who could bring that broader insight and expertise would help them make the best  decisions for the whole membership. Without this dedicated staff person, she said, the downtown membership would be underserved and underrepresented.

“This decision needed meaningful input from everyone, and I haven't seen that,” said Deb Haswell, who co-owns the Rocking Horse on 2nd Avenue. She referred to voting on the budget without discussing the details or plans as “buying blind”. She clarified for the attendees that voting for the budget was agreeing to put the changes in place, and said she would be voting against the proposed budget that reduced the DIA's discretionary funds by 75% - asking for more time for discussion.

The agenda of the meeting included a vote on that proposed budget for 2019, so DIA Chair David Parsons took many by surprise when he stated that the board had already made their decision and tonight's meeting was for information only.

The vote was approximately 21 to 15 in favour of the budget – and therefore the changes to the DIA. There was a proxy vote that had to be disqualified, and some question about whether board members, including those who were not themselves members of the DIA, should have voted, but the result was a clear majority.

When asked by the moderator what was going to be done with the results of the vote, Parsons said the board would have a December meeting to discuss it.