Remove councillor from CCDA: Samraj
Position should be gone once a final $100K grant ends, councillor says
City council’s representative on the City Centre Development Agency board says that position should be eliminated so the group can be seen to be fully in charge of its own matters.
Coun. Kris Samraj told the News this week that since serving on the board he has seen frustration from business owners directed at both the city and group that is legally independent of the municipality.
He says removing the position, meant to provide input and some financial oversight, considering a long-standing $100,000 city grant, should be removed when the grant ends this year.
As well, he said, he’ll provide any stakeholder with information about how to dissolve the group, but hopes for a larger discussion about improving mandate and operations.
“If downtown business owners have a different opinion, I’m encouraging them to express it,” he told the News.
The issue will arise at Monday night’s meeting of council where a public hearing for CCDA members on the budget resumes following a two-week delay. That break was suggested by Samraj in early January after some business owners complained about seemingly short notice over the Holidays about important budget changes.
The CCDA is legally a business improvement district in provincial legislation. The city collects a levy from business operators that is charged at the same time as property taxes, but legally has no power to affect the organization.
A petition comprising 25 per cent of stakeholders would trigger a referendum on dissolving the CCDA, but several attempts in the last 10 years have failed to reach that threshold.
Other councillors have stated in CCDA budget debates in previous years that no other commercial district in the city receives a grant to help stage events or assist in leasehold improvements.
In 2019, former council CCDA representative Jamie McIntosh made a notice of motion that the grant be reduced as a signal that members should be expected to take greater control and responsibility for the group.
The current proposed budget, written by CCDA officials then amended with city suggestions, removes the $100,000 grant given for downtown streetscape improvements and maintenance, as well as further grants to business owners.
It is partly replaced by a $55,000 municipal contract for the work, among other minor amendments.
As well, the city would also forgive the final $60,000 of an interest-free loan that it provided the CCDA for the $200,000 purchase of the Monarch Theatre.
That cost the organization $20,000 per year under a set repayment plan.
The rationale, written by city administrators, asks that the new Invest Medicine Hat economic development office at city hall coordinate with the CCDA to give aid and potentially offer office space.