Belleville Downtown Improvement Area office. (File Photo: David Foot/Quinte News)
There is some turmoil and more turnover within the Belleville Downtown Improvement Area.
Quinte News has learned the office and events coordinator Debby Nolan resigned Thursday, a week before the BDIA is to host a two-day downtown weekend festival.
Nolan wouldn’t identify anyone in particular but said she has been treated poorly by some members of the board of directors, prompting her to quit. Nolan praised her experience working with new Executive Director Marilyn Lawrie. Nolan was hired in October 2016 and brought more than 10 years of special event planning and operations management experience to her role.
Chair Dwane Barratt just learned of Nolan quitting and said he can’t comment on a personnel issue until he has a chance to meet with the rest of the board.
“We’ve had to make tough decisions and been in tough places before, so we will get through it,” Barratt said speaking to how the BDIA will execute next weekend’s event.
He said it’s still too early to say who will replace Nolan in the interim.
Nolan was hired last summer after both Acting Executive Director Erica Holgate and events and office coordinator Andrea McKibben resigned to pursue other ventures. Marilyn Lawrie then took the reins from Karen Parker in March 2017.
Our newsroom has reached out to Executive Director Lawrie for comment.
