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 2011

• January 25, 2011(94 kb DOC)

OSDIA Board Minutes 2010

• November 23, 2010 (101 kb PDF)
• October 26, 2010 (85 kb PDF)
• September 29, 2010 (144 kb PDF)
• July 28, 2010 (174 kb PDF)
• June 26, 2010 (661 kb PDF)
• 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)
• Rob Dinsmore, Streetscape Committee Chair
  (proprietor of Wilma’s Flower Shoppe)
• Bob Beaver, Treasurer
  (Manager of Scotiabank – Owen Sound)
• Dianne Mattice, Director
  (proprietor of The Rocking Horse)
• Jeff Robins, Director
  (proprietor of Mane Street Hair Salon)
• Rodney Rodger, Vice-Chair
  (Greyfair Carpet & Furniture)
• Peter Lemon, City Council Representative
• Colleen Purdon,  City Council Representative
• Steve Furness, City Representative

Staff

• Carolyn Bigley, Administrative Assistant
• Deb Blackshaw, Office Assistant
• Bill Driscoll, Maintenance Crew Chief

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.