We welcome your comments and feedback at feedback@downtownowensound.ca.

Please note regular Board Meetings are usually held on the 4th Tuesday of the month with minutes usually published (E+OE) by the 10th day of the following month.

OSDIA Board Minutes 2010

• May 25, 2010 (115 kb PDF)
• April 27, 2010 (127 kb PDF)
• March 23, 2010 (201 kb PDF)
• February 18, 2010 (157 kb PDF)
• January 26, 2010 (139 kb PDF)

OSDIA Board Minutes 2009

• November 24, 2009
• October 27, 2009
• September 22, 2009
• August 25, 2009
• July 28, 2009
• June 23, 2009
• May 26, 2009
• April 21, 2009
• March 24, 2009
• February 24, 2009
• February 17, 2009
  
• January 27, 2009

Thank you to the following volunteers of the D.I.A. who give of their time and energy to help keep our downtown vital, safe,and beautiful.

• Sue Carleton, Board Chair
  (proprietor of E! Embroidery)
• Maryann Thomas, Board Vice-Chair & Marketing Committee Chair
  (proprietor of Ginger Press Bookshop & Cafe)
• Rob Dinsmore, Streetscape Committee Chair
  (proprietor of Wilma’s Flower Shoppe)
• Bob Beaver, Treasurer
  (Manager of Scotiabank – Owen Sound)
• Renee Fair, Director
  (proprietor of The Candy Store Emporium)
• Dianne Mattice, Director
  (proprietor of The Rocking Horse)
• Jeff Robins, Director
  (proprietor of Mane Street Hair Salon)
• Rodney Rodger, Director
  (Greyfair Carpet & Furniture)
• Cheryl Govier, Director
  (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs)
• Peter Lemon, City Council Representative
• Jim McManaman, City Council Representative
• Steve Furness, City Representative

Staff

• Irwin Seidman, Manager
• Carolyn Bigley, Administrative Assistant
• Bill Driscoll, Maintenance Crew Chief

DIAs are grassroots organizations, that are driven by community support and require legislative authorization by the municipality in which they reside, in order to be established.

DIAs typically provide services such as street and sidewalk maintenance, public safety, park and open space maintenance, flowers and other beautifiers, events, and general image promotion. DIAs sometimes also work with private and public sector partners to facilitate capital improvements to public spaces. DIAs do not maintain or promote private businesses or properties and do not advocate directly on behalf of individual members. Rather, DIAs act to represent the collective voice of their mandated business district.

The services provided by DIAs are a supplement to the services already provided by the municipality.

In some areas, a DIA is referred to as a business improvement area (BIA), a business revitalization zone (BRZ), Business Improvement District (BID), or a community improvement district (CID).

OSDIA Board Meetings usually take place on the 4th Tuesday of every month at the OSDIA office which is located at 854 2nd Avenue East.  Meetings are scheduled from 6:30pm to 9:30pm (with Board Member dinner at 6:00).  Please contact the OSDIA office at 519-376-9225 to find out details and obtain a meeting agenda.

Committee Meetings

OSDIA Beautification Committee and Marketing Committee meetingts take place at various times during the month.  Meeting are usually held at the OSDIA office which is located at 854 2nd Avenue East.  Please contact the OSDIA office at 519-376-9225 to find out more about upcoming committee meetings.

More Info

If you have any questions or need more info, please do not hesitate to call or email us.  (519-376-9225 or admin@downtownowensound.ca).

Supporting the Downtown Community

Established in 1973, the Owen Sound Downtown Improvement Area (OSDIA) supports a membership of more than 300 downtown businesses and property owners.

Financed by your levy dollars and governed by the Ontario Municipal Act, the OSDIA delivers on a mandate focused on improving, beautifying, maintaining, and promoting the downtown area.

Our Vision

The vision of the Owen Sound Downtown Improvement Area (OSDIA) is to make a valuable, beneficial, and ongoing contribution to the OSDIA membership by effectively supporting initiatives that help to improve, beautify and promote the OSDIA community.

Our Mission

The Owen Sound Downtown Improvement Area (OSDIA) is committed to providing effective leadership in the ongoing development
of the membership area as a vibrant and sustainable business, cultural, and residential community.    We will achieve this goal by supporting initiatives aimed at improving, beautifying, and promoting the membership area on behalf of all of its members.

Legislative Mandate

The Ontario Municipal Act establishes the mandate for all BIAs (DIAs) within the province as follows:
A local municipality may designate an area as an improvement area and may establish a board of management, (a) to oversee the improvement, beautification and maintenance of municipally-owned land, buildings and structures in the area beyond that provided at the expense of the municipality generally; and (b) to promote the area as a business or shopping area.

Application

The Board is staffed by volunteers who are appointed by Owen Sound City Council.  Applications are available online at www.owensound.ca/council/committeeapplications.php, or in person at the OSDIA Office.

Time Committment

• Four Year term (running on same schedule as municipal council)
• Monthly regular board meetings (2-3 hours)
• Committees (depending on programs can be 2-4 hours monthly)
• Management guidance & support (knowledge sharing & mentoring as  required)
• Special events

Board of Directors

Board Chair

• Serves as the chief volunteer
• Is a partner with the Chief Executive / Manager) in achieving the organization’s mission
• Provides leadership to the Board of Directors, who sets policy and to whom the Chief Executive / Manager is accountable
• Chairs meetings of the Board after developing the agenda with the Chief Executive / Manager
• Encourages Board’s role in strategic planning
• Appoints the chairpersons of committees, in consultation with other Board members
• Serves ex officio as a member of committees and attends their meetings when invited
• Discusses issues confronting the organization with the Chief Executive / Manager
• Helps guide and mediate Board actions with respect to organizational priorities and governance concerns
• Reviews with the Chief Executive / Manager any issues of concern to the Board
• Monitors financial planning and financial reports
• Formally evaluates the performance of the Chief Executive / Manager and informally evaluates the effectiveness of the Board members
• Evaluates annually the performance of the organization in achieving its mission
• Performs other responsibilities assigned by the Board

Vice Chair

• Performs Chair responsibilities when the Chair cannot be available
• Reports to the Board’s Chair
• Works closely with the Chair and other staff
• Participates closely with the Chair to develop and implement officer transition plans
• Performs other responsibilities as assigned by the Board

Committee Chair

• Sets tone for the committee work
• Ensures that members have the information needed to do their jobs
• Oversees the logistics of committee’s operations
• Reports to the Board’s Chair
• Reports to the full Board on committee’s decisions / recommendations
• Works closely with the Chief Executive / Manager and other staff as agreed to by the Chief Executive / Manager
• Assigns work to the committee members, sets the agenda and runs the meetings, and ensures distribution of meeting minutes
• Initiates and leads the committee’s annual evaluation

Board Treasurer

• Manages / Administrates fiscal matters of the organization
• Provides support to the Chief Executive / Manager and other staff in managing day to day financial activities
• Provides annual budget to the board for members’ approval
• Ensures development and board review of financial policies and procedures

Board Member

• Regularly attends board meetings and important related meetings
• Makes serious commitment to participate actively in committee work
• Volunteers for and willingly accepts assignments and completes them thoroughly and on time
• Stays informed about committee matters, prepares well for meetings, and reviews and comments on minutes and reports
• Gets to know other committee members and builds a collegial working relationship that contributes to consensus
• Is an active participant in the committee’s annual evaluation and planning efforts

Committees

Active and engaged committees are responsible for a wide range of downtown activities.

The activities of the OSDIA are presently supported by a Maintenance & Streetscape Committee (formerly Beautification Committee) and an Events & Promotion Committee.

Additional sub or project committees may be formed from time to time, as needed.

Committee Member

• Regularly attends committee meetings
• Makes serious commitment to participate actively in committee work
• Volunteers for and willingly accepts committee assignments and completes them thoroughly and on time
• Stays informed about committee matters, prepares well for meetings, and reviews and comments on minutes and reports
• Gets to know other committee members and builds a collegial working relationship that contributes to consensus

Volunteers Support Strong Communities

With a strong vision for the future, the Board of Management welcomes the chance to talk with you about opportunities to serve on our Board of Directors, or to support one of our committees.  Please call us at
519-376-9225 or email us at admin@downtownowensound.ca.

A local municipality may designate an area as an improvement area and may establish a board of management, (a) to oversee the improvement, beautification and maintenance of municipally-owned land, buildings and structures in the area beyond that provided at the expense of the municipality generally; and (b) to promote the area as a business or shopping area.

In designing this statement, it is important to realize that it represents the vision for the DIA organization itself, and not the vision for the downtown community at large.  Nevertheless,  it is acknowledged that the two are inherently connected, and the very success of the DIA as an organization is largely dependent on the success of its members.

With the legislated mandate of the DIA at the core of our existence, the following statement represents our organizational vision going forward.

The vision of the Owen Sound DIA is to make a valuable, beneficial, and ongoing contribution to the DIA membership by effectively supporting initiatives that help to improve, beautify and promote the DIA community.

Expressed as a statement, our mission provide a clear understanding of who we are and what we do. With a strong sense of vision, the following mission statement supports the long term goals of the organization.

The Owen Sound DIA is committed to providing effective leadership in the ongoing development of the membership area as a vibrant and sustainable business, cultural, and residential community. We will achieve this goal by supporting initiatives aimed at improving, beautifying, and promoting the membership area on behalf of all of its members.

“Good evening. I would like to welcome everyone to the 2010 Annual General Meeting of the Downtown Improvement Area and thank you for joining us this evening.  I am Sue Carleton – Chair of the Downtown Improvement Area Board of Management and co-owner of E! Embroidery on 10th Street East.

I would like to draw everyone’s attention to the 2009 Annual Report which has been prepared by Irwin Seidman our manager, copies are available for everyone and it will also be published on our website.

This report is full of information about our DIA, such as what is a DIA, and what is the Owen Sound DIA, and the many ways to contact us. I encourage everyone to utilize one of these communication options, we value your input and it is the input of our members that helps ensure we continue to operate in the best interests of our membership. This report also includes our Vision and Mission statements, the treasurer’s report managers report, audited financial statements and 2010 proposed budget. I would like to thank Irwin for putting this together; it is very well done and very clearly represents our current DIA, what we do now and what we hope to do in the future.

Tonight, I would like to focus my report on our Vision Statement and what it means to me. The vision of the Owen Sound DIA is to make a “valuable, beneficial, and ongoing contribution to the DIA membership by effectively supporting initiatives that help to improve, beautify and promote the DIA community.”

I feel that this statement very clearly states what our board and committee members do for our downtown. They make a valuable, beneficial, and ongoing contribution to the DIA membership through the time they commit to the DIA. Without the time commitment that is made by all of these people we would not have the active vibrant downtown that we do.

Everyone brings a different idea or viewpoint to every meeting and together we create the events and projects that encourage customers and friends to come downtown so that they can enjoy our beautiful streetscape year round, and to take part in events such as the Taste of the Sound where retail store customers were encouraged to visit all of our downtown eating establishments. The Hottest Yard Sale Under the Sun takes a phenomenal amount of work to bring together, both by our office staff and by the volunteers who keep things running smoothly on the day of the sale.

Our streetscape committee puts considerable thought into what types of plants will look best in our downtown at the most reasonable cost, and the flower plantings are only a small part of what that committee has planned for the downtown. They are currently working on a plan to use the matching funds received from a the RED (Rural Economic Development) government grant to enhance the downtown. This is a three year program so it is a huge commitment of their time and energy. These are the people that make our “vision” a reality.

Our Mission Statement states that we are committed to “providing effective leadership in the ongoing development of the membership area as a vibrant and sustainable business, cultural, and residential community. We will achieve this goal by supporting initiatives aimed at improving, beautifying and promoting the membership area on behalf of all of its members.” The word I will focus on here is “community”.

Our downtown is a place where customers, business owners and the residents who live and or work here, also play here.

It is a place where they meet with friends for shopping or dining out, where they look after their personal or business financial needs at our local banks, insurance offices and investment companies, visit their doctor or dentist, work out at a fitness centre, go for coffee, get ideas for painting, papering or carpeting their home or office and then purchase new furniture to enjoy in that home or office.

These are just a few of the things to be done in our downtown.

Our downtown maintains that feeling of community where you greet friends and neighbours as you walk down the street or along the harbour or river. It is a place to enjoy the changing seasons, stroll around the Festival of Northern Lights displays at Christmas, watch the fishermen try their luck in summer and brave the ice in winter, enjoy the Farmers’ Market on Saturday morning at any time of the year, watch the flower bulbs unfold in the planters along the streets in the spring, and take part in the Hottest Yard Sale or events such as Buskerfest during the summer and check out the window displays during the Halloween decorating contest.

These are the things that make our downtown a community. Downtown is a place we proudly invite others from our extended community to join us to enjoy all that we have to offer. I feel very privileged to be part of this community.

To anyone who is interested in joining one of our committees or the board of management, we would love to have your input, new members come with new ideas and thoughts and those are always needed. Volunteers are also needed to help with delivering newsletters or at events as well, so if anyone has some time to spare to help out in those ways it would be much appreciated as well.

And finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who work with me on the board of management, all of the committee members, our office staff and maintenance crew. It is a pleasure to work with everyone. By always keeping in mind that everything we do must be in the best interest of the downtown we make a difference. Thank you.

Again, thank you for joining us and I hope you enjoy the rest of the evening visiting with old friends and making new ones.”

All of the changes that have taken place at the DIA office in this past year have certainly shown me how very much we rely on our staff in the office and what a great job they do to keep things running smoothly for us. Thank you Irwin and welcome Carolyn – I look forward to working with you.

I would also like to thank all of the current board members for the time that they give to the DIA.  Without their willingness to devote what little spare time I am sure they have to the board and committees we would not be able to put on as many of the special promotions and events that we do.

Maryann Thomas is vice chair of the board as well as chair of the Promotion/Marketing committee and has done an excellent job of enticing members to sit on the committee with her.  The ads which have been going in the Sun Times are an excellent way of partnering the DIA with the members to create an advertising package that is economical for all. And I know that there is currently a lot of work being done to prepare for the Hottest Yard Sale. I attended the last meeting and was impressed with the willingness of everyone to assist however they could.

Rob Dinsmore is chair of the Beautification committee and I know they have put a lot of thought into how to change the flowers and plants in the downtown to get the best bang for our buck, I can hardly wait to see the planters and pods being filled up for the summer. Already the spring bulbs have been very attractive and I understand there is a lot more to come. So thank you to Rob and all of your committee. And I understand they have a lot more than just plants that they are working on for beautification in the downtown, we will have to wait to see the rest of their plans.

Jeff Robins is treasurer and will be giving his report next – thank you to Jeff for committing the time needed to oversee our finances year round. And to our newest members Laurie Levi from Metro/A&P, Bob Beaver from Scotiabank, and Nathan Crawford from The Inkspot – thanks to all of you for joining our board. Also thanks to Peter Lemon and Jim McManaman our city councillors, and Steve Furness our city staff rep. The knowledge and assistance that each of you bring to our committee is greatly appreciated by all. We are a very diverse group of people and board meetings are always interesting, and sometimes challenging, but never dull or boring.

One of the recent changes has been the DIA’s website, it has been completely redesigned with updated information being entered constantly. The website address is www.downtownowensound.ca.  There are interactive sections now where members can fill out information and submit it to have their business profiled on the website, an area where members and others can register for the Hottest Yard Sale, a Busker survey, information on Parking in the downtown, and a lot more definitely worth going online and browsing through the site.

In future we will be having meeting minutes and newsletters on the website as well. Posting the meetings in particular is part of our emphasis on being more open, we want our members to know what we are doing at all times and encourage you to give us any feedback or comments that you have. Please remember that as board members the views and opinions that we express are based on our personal experience being in business downtown, we need your input in order to be sure that we are representing everyone in our downtown. You can send your comments to board@downtownowensound.ca – these comments will come directly to me as chair and I will share them with the other board members. With your help we can be a more effective board for everyone.

Once again this summer we will be working with Summerfolk and Salmon Spectacular to bring people downtown during their events. We will also be working with the Billy Bishop and Marine Rail museums during Heritage Days in July, and with Doug Cleverly at the city for theBuskerfest during August., and in December the Olympic Torch Run which will be here on the 28th of December. And of course with Festival of Northern Lights in November and December.

We have also recently partnered with the city and the market to apply for funding through the Rural Red program, if this grant is received we will be matching our dollars with those from the grant to assist with projects in the downtown. There will be more information coming on this as we go forward.

We are also participating in a newly formed cooperative which is being called “The Owen Sound Marketing Alliance”. The Owen Sound DIA, Heritage Place Shopping Centre, Wal-Mart, the City of Owen Sound Economic Development Department and Tourism have come to the table to participate in this exciting venture and are awaiting the approval of a few others. This alliance is focussed on marketing Owen Sound as a whole. The thought is that if we can get the people here, we have enough to keep them here. Some will come for the mall … some for the box stores … some for the downtown … yet others will simply come for the nature, art or culture… and still others will just be passing by. Bottom line is that we simply want to get them here.  There are thousands upon thousands of visitors heading to Sauble Beach or up the Bruce peninsula every week, and thousands more who call neighbouring communities their home. We believe that this represents an enormous opportunity to attract new and repeat business to our community. The reason for the alliance is that we believe that together we can achieve more than if we tried to market individually. In many ways it seems like the impossible … who would have thought that traditional adversaries could sit at the same table as partners … but this is exactly what is happening. With representation from key organizers like the Downtown (DIA), the Mall (Oxford Properties), the Box Stores (Wal-Mart) and local government (City of OS), we are currently working with representatives from many business sectors to deliver a strategy aimed at promoting Owen Sound as the great destination that it is. The objective is simple: attract people to Owen Sound and encourage them to stay as long as we can.

All of this is just some of what is happening in our DIA this year. There are many more plans and ideas being talked about, many more opportunities are being investigated. I would invite  everyone to articipate in whatever way you feel that you can, e-mail us your thoughts or comments, join a committee, volunteer to assist at our events, but most of all I invite you to be a vital part of our downtown community. Thank you and I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening.”