St. Jacobs Business Improvement Area Board of Management Meeting Minutes Tuesday, June 6, 2017 4:00 p.m. Quarry Communications (Edison) 1440 King Street N., St. Jacobs Present: Edward Denyer, Jenny Shantz, Gary Boudreau, Craig Miller, Phil Hipkiss, Natascha Stutz, Councilor Mark Bauman, Bob Wilbur General Members: Steve Ferguson Tea, Earth & Sky, Ross White Model Railway, Randy Bird, Waterloo Central Railway 1. Call Meeting to Order (4:05 p.m.) Edward Denyer called the meeting to order. 2. Approval of the Agenda Moved by Bob Wilbur Seconded by Natascha Stutz That the agenda be approved 3. Approval of the Minutes May 2, 2017 Moved by Craig Miller Seconded by Gary Boudreau That the St. Jacobs Board of Management approves the minutes of May 2, 2017. 4. New Business Entrance Signs Update Signs have been installed and we are waiting the finishing touches. Lettering for the announcements part of the sign have been ordered. There is a back panel on order that will thank visitors for coming to the village. Creative Landscaping and St. Jacobs Gardens are collaborating on the stone base and plantings as per earlier discussions. These are in the works to be completed in the next few weeks. There is an issue with the sign at the south entrance to the village. The adjacent property owner who has been cutting the grass around the sign has stopped doing so and has made it clear he will not be doing that in the future.
Edward & Phil investigate options and cost estimates for maintain the grass around the sign. The Board agreed that we would go ahead with the necessary expense for this activity. Moved by Phil Hipkiss Seconded by Mark Bauman That the St. Jacobs Board of Management agrees to accept the lesser of quotes obtained (at least two to be considered) for grass cutting. Signage at the Train Station We had a previous discussion about putting up signage at the train station to direct visitors into the village. We have acquired an arbour from Timber Barn and it has been moved onto the train station site. We could use this as a base and install a sign on it that would provide direction and maps or other information. Randy Bird from the Waterloo Central Railway described other plans they have for improving the site. After some discussion it appears we are better to wait until these plans are approved by the Township before we move ahead with our signage. Update on other signage Sign at John s Nursery: At our last meeting we re-visited the idea of putting up a large sign near the Farmers Market on John s Nursery property directing people to the village. This sign would be similar to he one Gary had gotten quotes for last year but would use our new village identity for the design. Gary to renew discussion with John s Nursery about location and costs for putting up this sign. FYI: There has been a new sign installed at the Farmer s Market (near the TSC) using the new village identity providing direction to the village. Mercedes Corp. did this to replace an older sign that was in this location.
Wayfinding Signs There has been no recent progress on this project. The Township has an upcoming meeting about this in the next two weeks. Canada 150 Flags Ross White Model Railway - had volunteered to distribute flags to BIA member businesses. He reported that this was done and he received a positive response from most people he connected with. He was also successful in gathering contact information for many. He has passed this on to Edward to update our contact list. Budget Presentation to Council Edward and Phil presented our budget to Township Council. They reported that the budget was approved with only minor discussion around some clerical issues. There was discussion regarding the reimbursement to offset costs associated with garbage collection. Moved by Phil Hipkiss Seconded by Craig Miller That the St. Jacobs Board of Management agrees to pass on the reimbursed funds to Mercedes Corp. and have them continue to manage garbage collection as they have been doing. Amazing Weekend Update Phil reported all plans are in place. It has been a hectic time leading up to this weekend. But the community association has done a great job assembling volunteers and organizing logistics. We are looking forward to the post event follow up to determine the level of success and what we can learn for future events. The Board has voiced a need for more communication from this group. Sidewalk Sale There had been some discussion around organizing a sidewalk sale on the Amazing Weekend. It was agreed to hold this at another time. It was agreed that the weekend of July 8 th would be the date for the sidewalk sale. Randy from the Waterloo Central Railway let us know that they are promoting Christmas in July the week of July 18 th. The Board agreed to promote this Village wide.
Edward and Craig to communicate these dates to the membership. Sparkles Bag Stuffers Craig presented a design and cost estimate that the Sparkles organizing committed has proposed. Craig also provided an update on many new activities for the Sparkles event. Moved by Craig Miller Seconded by Gary Boudreau That the St. Jacobs Board of Management agrees to proceed with the design as presented and order a quantity of 25,000 bag stuffers at a cost of $992.00 Shared Bus Wrap Randy Bird advised the Board that CWR is buying a bus to shuttle passengers between the hotels another locations and the railway station. The bus will also be used for farm tours in the Elmira area. He they are planning to wrap the bus in CWR promotion and was asking if the BIA would consider sharing the promotion and the cost. The cost to the BIA for ½ the bus wrap would be $6,000. The Board will take it into consideration and advise if we want to proceed. Social Media Update Craig gave a brief update on our new social media efforts. This appears to be moving in a positive direction. Leslie has been active and our stats are improving. Outcome of Audit This has been completed and all went smoothly. We are eligible for a small HST reimbursement. Phil will apply for us to get this back. Potential Levy Increase Raj is continuing to investigate levies and operating budgets from other BIAs.
Waterloo Central Railway Randy Bird provided an update on the improvements that the railway is making. These included new platforms at the market, a parking area at Value Village and a connection to the LRT on Northfield drive in Waterloo. He announced that WCR is promoting a Hogwarts Express on September 30 th and anticipates this will be a very popular event. 5. Next Meeting - Tuesday, July 4, 2017 at 4:00 p.m. at Quarry in St. Jacobs. 6. Adjournment Moved by Edward Denyer Seconded by Craig Miller That the meeting be adjourned..