Voting by proxy will now be allowed for members of the Downtown Business Improvement Association as a result of changes to its bylaws unanimously approved Thursday.
The group, which represents 400 business owners in the downtown area, also formalized changes to its bylaws which: formalize a registrar of members; increase the required notice of meetings from 14 days to 45 days; allow members to examine accounts and financial statements within 10 business days of written notice; require posting of minutes of meetings on the DBIA website within 30 days of board approval.
"It was important to have this meeting to amend our bylaws so we have a clear set of bylaws when we go to our next annual general meeting," said John Irving, a commercial accounts manager for Integris Credit Union and DBIA secretary.
"People are used to using different means of communication and our bylaws were a little dated in that regard, so we tried to bring them into a more modern format. Proxy voting was never clearly defined before so tried to clarify that so people will understand when they read the bylaws who can vote and who can't vote."
Proxy voting, in which a predetermined representative is chosen to take the place of a voting DBIA member who can't attend a meeting, will now be allowed provided there is written notice given that specifies which meeting the proxy voter will be present. However, that person would be entitled to vote at one meeting only and would have reapply to be allowed to represent the voting member at any subsequent meeting.
The DBIA's best practices committee spent two months working with lawyer Dan Marcotte on the bylaw changes, which DBIA president Rod Holmes believes will lead to more clarity and a more open organization, which is funded by a tax levy on all businesses in the C-1 zoning area. DBIA meetings have a history of some heated discussions over finances, which led to an internal investigation in April and resulted in several directors resigning. One other new bylaw approved Thursday requires the group to follow Robert's Rules of Order.
"The primary objective [of the bylaw changes] was to make sure the members' interests were taken care of, that there was more transparency, and it resolves some of the issues that were brought up last year," said Holmes, who took over the DBIA presidency in January when former Citizen publisher Hugh Nicholson moved to Nanaimo. "Now we can get on with the business of making downtown Prince George a better place."
Thursday's meeting was attended by just nine people.
With the Canada Winter Games coming to Prince George in 2015, Irving said the DBIA has a key role to play in making the downtown a better place for visitors and residents of the city.
"I'm pretty optimistic about the future of Prince George and I think we're on a track to try and make the group more inclusive and get more feedback from our members at large and provide a service that people will make use of," said Irving. "Prince George is working on its image and on its downtown. I think we're going in the right direction and I'm pretty optimistic when the Winter Games comes it'll be a better downtown than it was a few years ago."
The DBAI's annual general meeting is set for Wednesday, April 18 at 6 p.m. in the basement of the Royal Canadian Legion, 1335 Seventh Ave.
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