Change in leadership at Simcoe BIA following integrity commissioner reports

The Downtown Simcoe BIA is highlighted a few times in the recent agenda for Norfolk County Council following an integrity commissioner report and resignations of the chair and treasurer.

The integrity commissioner was contacted earlier this year by council regarding Chair Brian Jones and Treasurer Lyndsey Ross.

The complaint against Jones was in regards to an email he sent to fellow BIA members regarding two board members (the sitting councillors) and his frustrations about them being absent and late for a meeting and their lack of commitment to the downtown.

He also accused Councillor Alan Duthie of trying to remove a BIA Board Member, something the Duthie denies further in the report, and suggested that the councillors’ pay be docked from their Council compensation in an amount equal to the BIA levy (5%) deducted and redirected to homeless solutions in the downtown core, and that their appointments to the BIA Board be struck.

The commissioner found that it contained “disparaging remarks about other Members” of the BIA Board and breached of the “Open Meeting” Principle by having this discussion via email instead of in person, even if in a closed session meeting.

Ross was brought to the attention of the Integrity commissioner after she sent an email to the general manager of the Norfolk County Agricultural Society regarding an event she attended, expressing her displeasure for it. At the start of that email, she said she represented businesses and included the BIA.

The commissioner found the corresponded to the Agricultural Society was “demonstrated a lack of respect, and was also abusive and intimidating.”

Both Jones and Ross were recommended to be reprimanded for these actions.

A joint complaint by the county against Jones and Ross was made as well, regarding $4000 being used from the BIA fund to hire Ross a lawyer to defend her in the previous Code of Conduct complaint and also questions Jones’ business being selected for communications and his relationship with Ross affecting this outcome.

There was a complaint made against Councillor Adam Veri and the Simcoe BIA Communications Committee submitted by Ross alleging that Veri disclosed confidential information to third parties but the Integrity Commissioner dismissed this claim.

Jones provided us with the following statement:

The state of the Downtown Simcoe BIA is a good news story- we have seen almost 20 new businesses locate or re-locate to our Downtown in the last 18 months, event attendance and contest participation are at an all-time high, and financially, the BIA is solid- the Board has a full year’s budget in reserve, and our budgets have been trimmed over the last few years – we are doing more, with better results, on a budget that is almost the same size as the 2015 BIA budget.

BIA’s are unique, in that they are a self-funded local board of business owners, elected by our peers – the BIA budget is funded by a levy charged only on commercial properties in the core, and, with the exception of the 2 Council seats on the BIA board, the Board Members are all business/property owners, volunteering their time.

Downtown is on a roll, and I don’t want my errors in judgment, my failures of leadership, to impact that momentum. For the good of the Downtown Simcoe BIA stakeholders, the Board of Directors, Council, and the taxpayers of Norfolk County, I decided to resign from the Board of the Downtown Simcoe BIA.

The Board is in good hands. The unpaid volunteer business owners who continue to serve on our board, and the Councillors on our board, are enthusiastic and success-focused, and I wish them the best.

Please keep shopping local, and supporting our Downtown!

Regards,

Brian Jones