The Downtown Business Improvement Association will have to deal with questions about financial transparency and the fallout from mass resignations when its twelve new board members meet for the first time next week.
Those dozen new names, which include founding member and past president Kirk Gable, were elected in the wake of a heated annual general meeting Wednesday night. The heavily attended meeting saw the impromptu formation of a three-person committee to examine the finances of the city-funded business group and a pair of resignations.
Heather Oland and Adele Yakemchuk stepped down from the board one year into their two-year terms during the meeting. Mary Jane Hannah and DBIA president Gordon Langer withdrew their names from the ballot; fellow board member Dan McLaren was not re-elected.
"I was shocked [by the resignations]," said Gable, who had sat on the board but resigned in the spring of 2010. "I could see the folks that resigned were clearly doing a lot of work for that board; they were the ones doing most of the presentations last night."
Gable said he hadn't made a decision on whether he would seek the presidency of the DBIA.
The meeting, held at the Prince George Public Library, took a turn to the troubled when media personality Ben Meisner, representing a downtown business, questioned the board over access to the DBIA's records.
He moved to postpone the presentation of a report detailing the organization's finances, setting off a procedural debate. In the end, Meisner and the board compromised: the report was presented, a vote would be held on accepting the report and a committee of three was struck to examine the DBIA's books.
According to sources at the meeting, the committee members were chosen but their names were not available by press time (Gable said he declined a spot, since he was up for election to the board). Linda Self, general manager of the DBIA, said it was unclear when the committee of three would begin its work or what its mandate was.
Oland, who resigned from the board Wednesday, said the meeting was clouded by a "climate of hostility and negativity" from "veiled accusations that seemed to be spread through the room."
"I felt that certainly some of the members that were present appeared to be questioning the integrity of members of the board who have worked hard and diligently for the last year and that wasn't OK with me," said Oland.
Oland characterized the vague hints at impropriety levelled at the board during the meeting as inappropriate; Gable declined to comment on them as well.
"Every director of the board of every business improvement association is also either a property owner or tenant within their business area," said Oland. "Everyone is both volunteering and doing business. People seem to be confused about what a conflict of interest is and are using the [term] loosely and inappropriately in my opinion."
Gable, however, did not agree the tone in the room was hostile.
"There was one individual there, asking questions, asking pointed questions and we all know who that is," said Gable. "I've sat at the front of that room at annual general meetings and faced the same kind of questions. There's really nothing new about that kind of thing. I don't think we were ever questioned in that same way about financial issues but there was always someone at the meeting who wasn't happy.
"I don't blame people for asking those kind of questions. This is a public body spending public money. The people in that room are the ones that fund it. It's not general tax revenue, it's a special levy that applies to downtown property."
Calls to Yakemchuk, Hannah and Langer were not returned by press time.
The auditor's report on the DBIA showed the organization received $200,000 from a grant from the City of Prince George, which is collected by a special levy on downtown business owners; $16,000 from flower baskets; $8,651 in other revenue for a total of $224,651 in 2010.
THE NEW BOARD
Election results for the board of the Downtown Business Improvement Association
Elected (business in brackets, if available): Alan Weeks (Beyond Benefits), Kate Roxburgh (Topaz Bead Gallery), Darren Low (City Furniture), Carla Johnston (BID Group), Garrett Fedorkiw (Shefield), Eoin Foley (Nancy O's), Kirk Gable (property owner), David Hillhouse (Majestic Management), Rod Holmes (Regional Security), John Irving (Integris Credit Union), Betty Bryce (property owner), Allison Akehurst (Allison's Embroidery).
Returned: Grant Zimmerman (Heather Sadler Jenkins), David McWalter (L&M Engineering), Hugh Nicholson (Prince George Citizen).
Resigned: Heather Oland, Adele Yakemchuk.
Withdrew from ballot: Mary Jane Hannah, Gordon Langer
Not elected: Dan McLaren
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The DBIA spent $182,890 in 2010 including: $34,551 on its flower basket program; $26,951 on its Clean Team; $28,948 on its Let's Get Started program. Of that $182,890, $75,018 was spent on general and administrative fees including: $19,329 on management fees, $15,289 on wages and benefits and $10,140 on advertising.
"There was lots of really positive, wonderful steps forward for downtown," said Oland. "I'm very proud of the work we accomplished. I wish the new board every success."
