IT’S COMING... ARE YOU READY?
21 Industrial Dr., Elmira | 519.669.2884 | martinssmallengines.ca
10 | 20 | 2012 VOLUME 17 | ISSUE 45
JACKS GO DOWN AS OPPONENTS PILE ON TOP SPORTS PAGE 13
COMMENT PAGE 10
MCGUINTY'S RESIGNATION PROTECTS HIS LEGACY
Floradale firefighters extinguish a tractor fire on a farm located near Yatton Road and Third Line on Tuesday afternoon. The tractor was destroyed in the fire. The cause is still under investigation.
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[COLIN DEWAR / THE OBSERVER]
Elmira BIA faces prospect of suspending activities Organization having a hard time recruiting new board members, but mayor offers to serve as interim chair STEVE KANNON Facing the prospect of suspending the activities of the Elmira BIA, Mayor Todd Cowan says he’s willing to step in as interim chairman. The organization representing downtown businesses is without a chair, and faces more vacancies on its board of directors following
its annual general meeting next month. Current board members are calling on fellow businesspeople to help revitalize the group. BIA treasurer Keith Schelter, who’s stepping down at the end of the year, said this week he’d like to see a full complement of new board members elected at the Nov. 14 AGM. While waiting for new people to step up, the
BIA is in something of a holding pattern. Four of the eight board positions, including the chair, will be available at the meeting. Cowan currently makes a ninth member as the representative of Woolwich council, but is open to the idea of serving temporarily as chair “if nobody wants to do it,” he said this week.
“We need some fresh blood. “I’d like to get more people involved.” The alternative would be to suspend or even disband the organization. The Elmira Business Improvement Area was formed in 1980, ostensibly to help deal with major downtown renovations that began in that era – long-term debt associated with those im-
provements was retired in 2002. The organization is a committee of council, appointed by and answerable to the municipality, which sets the group’s budget, currently $40,000 a year. Most of the funding comes from a special levy on businesses in the downtown core, while $10,000 comes BIA | 4