Woodstock BIA clashing with city over Shared Services Agreement

Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The city’s Business Improvement Area (BIA) and City of Woodstock are at odds when it comes to the agreement the two share to run the downtown organization. At the forefront is a five-figure expense to rent a skating rink that the BIA board said wasn’t approved.

There is no written record showing the board approved the $16,281.60 expenditure to rent a skating rink for roughly six weeks in March and April of this year. The Echo recently sent the BIA board several questions, including one about the rink, and received a lengthy written statement in response.

“There is no record in any meeting minutes showing board approval of this expenditure,” said the reply.

There were two mentions of rental anywhere in agendas and minutes, which are posted on the organization’s website, one in the July agenda package.

“BIA was told DDO’s Downtown Budget was paying for it. NO board discussion or approval. Request City to repay BIA forthwith.”

The Echo reached out to the company that rented the rink. A brand new unit could be purchased for $15,000.

The DDO is the city’s Downtown Development Officer, Kerry Baird, who reports to Brad Hammond, the city’s economic development commissioner. Her role is to support the BIA’s activities for an average of 17.5 hours per week.

“I have heard at least two different perceptions of what led up to the decision to lease the skating rink,” explained Hammond. “One version says the BIA’s Special Events Committee believed it had authority to spend within its budget and decided on its own to book the skating rink. Another version says the committee decided the request should go back to the board for approval. Unfortunately, there is no evidence one way or the other to tell us what exactly happened and those who were in the committee meeting have differing perceptions. Regardless, this has identified a gap in process and in April 2025 the board created a procurement policy, presumably to avoid this happening in the future.”

The latest BIA budget document states it is $25,000 over budget in its Promotions line. Hammond added there has been no official request from the BIA to be paid back for the rink rental.

“While requesting reimbursement for the rink was one of the recommendations from the finance committee per the board’s July minutes, the board only supported one of the 10 recommendations which was to change the purchasing policy on a go-forward basis. So, there has been no request to the city.”

The City of Woodstock is to provide support for the BIA through a Shared Services Agreement. It specifies assistance in several areas, including social media campaigns, website and communication plan development. The city also pays all invoices for the committee. The BIA is run by volunteers, most of whom work and/or own properties in the organization’s catchment area. It is funded solely by its members, and it pays $50,000 per year to the city for that support.

The BIA board feels the city is not abiding by the SSA by failing to provide the agreed-upon resources. As a result, it hired a Kitchener communications company to develop and implement a social media campaign for the last six months of 2025. The exact cost is not available.

“Because marketing and branding support promised under the SSA was not being delivered, the BIA Marketing and Communications Committee requested professional assistance. Following board approval and adherence to the procurement policy (three quotes were obtained), Durrell Communications was engaged to provide strategic and content support – particularly during the downtown construction,” said the BIA statement.

Hammond said the city is “absolutely” providing the mandated support.

“This is ultimately where we have different perspectives and are working through the resolution process.”

The board is also questioning the city’s support to keep its website up to date. The statement said it is the sole responsibility of Baird, who is alleged to have redone the site without authorization.

“The DDO changed the hosting of the platform without board approval and, through the city, not the BIA, contracted BIA members to perform website work. Once the board became aware of this, we asked the arrangement to stop.”

The BIA’s website has seen some recent updates after the Echo ran an opinion piece two weeks ago. Biard’s photo was taken off, where she was listed as a BIA employee. Adding more confusion to the story is the BIA sending an official complaint to the province’s Ombudsman, meaning third-party mediation with the city has been stopped.

“Because of the inquiry to the Ontario Ombudsman, the city informed the BIA that the mediation process would be paused until we are advised that the process has concluded to ensure that any information or recommendations from the Ombudsman can inform mediation. We remain committed to working through that process in good faith with the board,” explained Hammond.

The Echo also reached out to Mayor Jerry Acchione, who said the BIA needs to get together and figure out what they want to do collectively as a board.

“Right now, there are a lot of side conversations happening and people saying things they may or may not have the authority to say. We want to work with the BIA to address their concerns, clear things up where there is obviously a lack of clarity with the agreement and move forward to support a vibrant, prosperous downtown. We have a Shared Services Agreement, and that agreement outlines the dispute resolution process. We remain committed to working through that process with them.”

Acchione added he is very disappointed the board is not participating in good faith in the process to resolve the dispute laid out in the SSA. He also defended city staff.

“If the BIA and city truly want this to be a successful partnership going forward, then people need to stop spreading rumours and accusations and sit down together and work towards a resolution. The city is fully prepared to resume the mediation process once we have a response from the Ombudsman about the inquiry made to their office. There are definitely some opportunities to improve processes for clarity and transparency, but our staff work hard to support the downtown through various initiatives, and it’s unfortunate that they are subjected to accusations that misrepresent the actions that transpired.”