A board executive with the Stirling-Rawdon Business Improvement Area (BIA) is seeking to clarify some of the concerns from Stirling-Rawdon town council as the town looks at steps to dissolve the organization.
Last week, Stirling-Rawdon council received a report on the steps needed to dissolve the BIA, citing concerns about a lack of member participation and engagement, as well as a low budget and an inability to increase revenues or enter partnerships, among other items listed.
No action was taken on the matter, as Mayor Bob Mullin noted to Quinte News that a meeting was set to take place between members of council and the BIA.
Following Quinte News’s publication of the article, board executive and acting secretary of the BIA Jessica Rogers reached out to Quinte News seeking to provide additional context and address concerns laid out by council.
“I think there’s a lot of just general public confusion around what the BIA is, how they’re funded, the initiatives that we do,” Rogers tells Quinte News.
“So I would like to start by saying that we only receive $7,500 from the municipality yearly. That is a specific commercial levy that is only attached to commercially-zoned properties within our designated business improvement area. So we’re not taking from the general tax base or the residents. Any funding we receive from the municipality is only attached to these commercially-zoned properties.”
Rogers addressed a part in the report regarding a lack of member participation and engagement.
“Tell me a volunteer organization that has zero issues that you know,” Rogers said.
“Every volunteer organization I know in Stirling-Rawdon does struggle with membership and participation and engagement, but in all honesty, our board is actually in one of the better places than it has been. I have been a board member for 10 years now, and I would say we actually have more active members and participation and people showing up to meetings and getting involved than we have in the 10 years that I’ve been involved with it.”
She says there are currently 10 voting members within the BIA, the maximum allowed under its constitution, including one council-appointed representative.
“That’s Councillor Caroline Smith, and she is really essentially meant to be the liaison between the BIA and council,” Rogers explained.
“She’s supposed to bring things from council to the BIA, and then the other way, anything that’s going on at the BIA, she’s meant to report back to council, and even the communication with this board representative has been very limited.”
In the report, it outlines a letter that was issued to property owners within the BIA at the end of May 2026,
The town says the letter provided an opportunity for the owners to confirm their membership status, nominate an individual to vote on behalf of their corporation, and/or provide a list of tenancy in an effort to encourage dialogue.
Rogers pushed back, saying that a motion had been approved earlier this year changing membership requirements to take part in the BIA.
“They are now requiring the property owners to sign off and say yes, my tenant, the people who are running businesses within my property, I’m giving them permission to sit on the board. This requirement has never been needed before,” Rogers said.
“Many of the businesses that don’t participate in the BIA wouldn’t have even known that these letters were sent, bringing it to their landlord or the property owner’s attention to request that they fill it out and allow them to sit on the board.”
She also questioned the number of responses to the letters.
“They state that there were only two responses to these letters. Still, many of the board members, the active members who knew this change was being implemented, did fill out this membership eligibility requirement and sent it in. So, these could not be counted as responses to the letter because there would have been more than two stated.”
Rogers says it’s unfortunate the dissolution is being discussed, as the BIA has put on events that she says have received positive community feedback.
“We run amazing, outstanding community events that are adored by our residents, visitors, and businesses alike,” Rogers said.
“Things like the holiday market, the farmers market, the harvest market. We do the Christmas light display in the downtown area. We had a Light the Night event last year. They run a Tailgate Treasures event. Numerous things go on that the BIA has funded and executed that haven’t been mentioned, especially by council and staff.”
A meeting is set to take place between members of the BIA and town council and staff, including Mayor Bob Mullin, Councillor Caroline Smith, CAO Shelley Stedall, and Town Clerk Becky O’Hara, on Tuesday.
