HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-01-26 DAAC Minutes
Downtown Action & Advisory Committee
Minutes
Thursday, January 26, 2023—4:00 p.m.
Location: Virtual
In Attendance
Sandi Castle, Debbie Chapman, Aislinn Clancy, Joel Leslie, Jeanette Makad, Will Turman,
Brandon Van Dam, Izabela Wyllie, Darren Becks, Thea Mistry, Katelyn Remus
Meeting Called to Order: 4:05pm
Disclosure of Pecuniary Interests: Nothing to declare
Agenda Items
1. Welcome and Land Acknowledgment (5 mins)
2. Committee Introductions (15 mins)
Committee members and staff introduced themselves.
3. Committee Training, Mariah Blake, Committee Administrator (30 mins)
Mariah Blake, a Committee Administrator from the City’s Legislative team, provided a presentation on
committee training. The presentation is appended below.
4. Chair & Vice-Chair Voting (10 mins)
M. Blake provided an explanation of Chair and Vice-Chair and put a call out to the group for volunteers.
W. Turman put his name forward to be Chair. This was moved by J. Makad, and it was approved by the
committee.
J. Makad nominated B. Van Dam for Vice-Chair. B. Van Dam accepted the Vice-Chair nomination and the
committee approved.
5. Downtown Updates (15 mins)
T. Mistry shared a presentation on the Main Street Accelerator Program. The program ends of Jan 31,
2023, and through the work on the 4 Ambassadors on the City team through the grant, $400,000.00 was
put back into Downtown Kitchener businesses.
D. Becks spoke to the DTK Vision Project that is occurring through the work of the Downtown
Community Working Group (DCWG). W. Turman shared some perspective of being on the DCWG.
Presentations are appended below.
D. Becks shared that he has a conflict with the Feb 23, 2023, DAAC meeting and proposed changing the
meeting date to Feb 16, 2023. J. Leslie mad a motion to move the Feb committee meeting to Feb 16,
2023, and the committee approved.
6. 2022 Feedback and 2023 DAAC Workplan (5 mins)
The committee discussed the feedback that was received in the Fall of 2022 after working with the City’s
Volunteer Engagement team on gaining an understanding of what is working well for the committee and
what can be improved. The committee spoke to wanting to be more engaged and having more direction
as well as making recommendations. The discussion also included the committee thinking about what
they want to get out of being on DAAC and what topics to work on and have meetings on. Discussions
will be continued at the February meeting.
Adjournment—5:25pm on motion by B. Van Dam
Next Meeting: February 16, 2023, at 4 p.m.
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