After nearly two months, Windsor City Council has returned the reigns of the city's nine Business Improvement Associations (BIAs) back to the board members.
During Monday's meeting of City Council, members voted unanimously to approve governance back to the boards through a new bylaw, that requires all BIA management to adhere to a uniform structure.
The return of board control to the BIAs is welcome news for Larry Horwitz, the chair of the Wyandotte Town Centre BIA. He told WindsorNewsToday.ca Tuesday afternoon that the action was just what the BIAs needed.
"I was for the review in the first place, because I think City Council made the right decision in cleaning up some of the issues that have gone on in terms of elections, and in terms of some of the financial irregularities," said Horwitz. "It was a bit of the wild, wild West."
The by-law follows the decision made by council in late February to temporarily take over management operations for a period of two months to work on a number of new rules and determine how the rules would be implemented.
The City believed that the nine BIAs had too much individual power and were more likely to do their own thing. Horwitz said by putting a uniform bylaw in place, it makes it easier to include people with a business background in economic development decisions.
"I think a lot of people were maybe serving on boards that shouldn't have been there," said Horwitz. "Elections were conducted in a haphazard way. I think this was really good for the businesses and this will help for everybody."
Council voted on March 9 to take over the BIA boards for up to 60 days while a plan was drawn up for how elections and other business should be handled citywide. Ward 9 Councillor Kieran McKenzie was the lone vote against, and Ward 3's Renaldo Agostino recused himself.
---with files from Mark Brown
