BIA elects no-nonsense, get stuff done board
Four new board members have been appointed to the Creemore BIA during a recent bi-election.
Creemore 100 Mile Store co-owner Jackie Durnford will serve as president, with Cardboard Castles Children’s Emporium owner Laurie Copeland in the role of vice president, Creemore Springs Brewery director of marketing Karen Gaudino as secretary and Creemore Echo publisher Sara Hershoff as treasurer. Corey Finkelstein of Inzane Visual Communications is staying on as past president and Thom Paterson remains in his role as council representative.
Several BIA seats became vacant throughout the term with other members indicating they wanted to step down, prompting an election mid-term. The board will remain in place until the end of the current term of council, in the fall of 2018.
According to a Clearview Township bylaw, the board of management’s duties are to oversee the improvement, beautification and maintenance of municipally owned land, buildings and structures in the BIA – business improvement area – beyond that provided at the expense of the municipality generally and to promote the area as a business or shopping area.
A $20,000 annual budget is used to install planters along the main street, maintain the garbage receptacles, and make the street look nice in general.
The rest of it takes creativity, said Durnford.
“It is important to make sure we are connected and networked to make sure we don’t miss any opportunities,” she said.
Gaudino said some of that can be done by capitalizing on what others are doing to promote the area.
“We have to leverage the bigger machines,” she said. “Not recreating things but taking what’s here and leveraging it, amplifying what is great about Creemore.”
The province, the county, the brewery, the farmers’ market and the Apple Pie Trail are all examples of entities that can be leveraged.
Durnford also said there is a lot that can be done through one-on-one marketing, by talking up the neighbouring shops and setting a positive environment for working together. She said providing an excellent visitor experience in terms of customer service goes a long way to increase return visits and bring in new visitors, by word of mouth.
The BIA also plans to narrow its scope in some ways by sticking to its mandate. “We’ve all been around long enough to know what we can and cannot do,” said Hershoff.
“We want to be very realistic in our goals,” said Durnford.
“We want to be a no-nonsense get-stuff-done kind of board. We don’t want stuff cluttering the path,” she said, adding that it is the whole association that makes decisions and will be responsible for getting stuff done.
Copeland said credit is due to the previous BIA board, for laying a foundation and forging a good relationship with the township.
