HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-10-26 DAAC Minutes
Downtown Action & Advisory Committee
Minutes
Thursday, October 26, 2023—4:00 p.m.
Location: In Person, City Hall (Schmalz room)
In Attendance
Sandra Castle, Joel Leslie, William Turman, Darren Becks,Aislinn Clancy, Thea Mistry
Meeting Called to Order: 4:07pm
Disclosure of Pecuniary Interests: Nothing to declare
Agenda Items
1. Welcome, Land Acknowledgment (Will Turman)
- We do not have quorum, and so could not approve the September minutes (but W. Turman
noted he did not see any issues with the minutes.)
- Next month we will look at the new DTK vision and figure out how to incorporate it into the
DAAC workplan for 2024
2. DAAC Terms of Reference Recommendations and Discussion
D. Becks presented recommendations from Legislated Services about the DAAC Terms of
Reference (ToR) (see Appendix 1)
Legislated Services has looked at DAAC’s suggested changes and questions, conducted
research on other advisory committees, and has written a report outlining their
recommendations
Craft a mandate for DAAC:
o Specifying that DAAC should be consulted at the front end of projects that impact
Downtown
o Clerks can circulate the updated ToR to other departments that like to engage with
DAAC so that they understand this expectation
Tighten up definitions
Meeting frequency:
o Question for November meeting – one idea was to have less frequent, more robust
agenda for in person meetings, plus ad hoc (possibly virtual) meetings when there
are engagement requests from other departments
o Build flexibility into the ToR
o A. Clancy: scheduling concern if meetings were less frequently. There is
th
predictability to the 4 Thursday of the month. We would need a plan about
logistics for booking ad hoc meetings.
Build in provisions for Ad-hoc / sub-committees:
o W. Turman inquired about mechanism for putting things in front of council
o D. Becks: if an advisory committee wants to take on a project, they could form a
sub-committee and work on a report (a unique pathway)
Quorum/recruitment:
o Have had challenges with recruiting enough members and having a membership
that reflects the Downtown community
o Would we be better off to have a general statement about the ideal composition?
o In reality, we have no control over who applies
o We could encourage specific people to apply once it comes time to add members
o Arrive at a number that allows us to meet quorum
o Only do a minimum number
o A. Clancy: Can think of many different stakeholder groups (including international
students and newcomers) who wouldn’t know that DAAC exists
o If we eliminate the complexity of composition and use our own networks to recruit,
as well as possible change the meeting frequency, it could help attract new
members
o W. Turman: How can we try to intentionally bring in representatives of different
groups?
o We need to understand what the application process is, and give people clear and
specific instructions about how to fill out the form
o BIA representation: suggestion to change the language to a “BIA board member
delegate”, so it could be the Executive Director who attends or a rotating roster of
members who participate
Questions/feedback?
o How does the group feel about the idea of switching to quarterly meetings:
W. Turman: Would having fewer meetings mean that the meetings have to
be significantly longer? Or too many topics for one meeting?
Perhaps the quarterly meetings would be an opportunity for DAAC to dig
into the content from the ad-hoc meetings and come up with DAAC’s
perspective
S. Castle: Need a clearer understanding of what content is tied to EcDev, vs.
other departments/organizations (which would comprise the “ad-hoc”
meetings)
What if the language is that the quarterly meetings is the minimum, and we
would still have the flexibility to have additional meetings?
Fewer meetings could require more prep (pre-reads and questions with
time to read/digest), so members are prepared to use the time well
Objective is to make this more impactful
A. Clancy: it’s rewarding when committee members can see the positive
results of their work
EcDev would be bringing work to those meetings where the feedback can be
actioned (to tighten up the lag between feedback and execution)
W. Turman: a place based committee
S. Castle: but it is an EcDev committee
W. Turman: those interactions with other departments and their
consultation processes are meaningful. Wouldn’t want to be exclusively
limited to only EcDev related projects
Build out a scope that includes any bodies of work related to Downtown
W. Turman: Would want the other teams in EcDev to build into the timings
of their relevant workplans consultation with DAAC
o D. Becks: If we provide a first draft of the ToR for feedback, it would be great at the
next meeting to be in a position to gather DAAC’s changes, and then we can bring it
back to clerks and work on expediently having a new ToR
o S. Castle: When is the next opportunity for new members to join?
D. Becks: We will clarify and report back
A. Clancy: Could Comms put something out on Social Media?
S. Castle: Could it be in the DTK newsletter?
W. Turman: Until we have a new ToR, haven’t felt confident recruiting
J. Leslie: I would still struggle to articulate what DAAC is. Having this will
help.
S. Castle: We need an elevator pitch
o A. Clancy: It says, “feedback feedback”, I’d like it to say “Action”!
D. Becks: Does that Action part matter to the group? Action means different
things to different members. No other advisory committees have an
“action” piece. We can focus on making good use of people’s time.
o J. Leslie: In theory, could other teams in EcDev incorporate DAAC in their
workplans?
D. Becks: The Downtown team is proposing bringing an Advisory Committee
into our workplan. It will encourage us to map out our projects, so that we
can be ready for those DAAC touchpoints
o W. Turman: can we support projects that rely a bit on “political will”, to lend weight
to help push those through?
o S. Castle: It’s a group that’s passionate about Downtown having a collective voice
o W. Turman: Imagining an action item – “King Street, Pedestrianized”, and DAAC
taking it up as a project, for example
o Next month: ToR comments (30 min), Vision/Principles – ideas to action, and gather
some initial ideas for DAAC’s workplan (2.5h and will include dinner)
W. Turman will email the group encouraging attendance. Next month will
be important and fun! We need quorum or we will be stalled.
3. International Downtown Association Conference Highlights – Darren Becks, Manager,
Downtown Development and Innovation, Economic Development, City of Kitchener
Members were having a fruitful conversation about the ToR and decided to devote the bulk
of the meeting to the first part of the agenda.
D. Becks shared some thematic highlights from the conference, trends, shared challenges,
strategies that affirm the work we are doing
o One document of interest identifying top trends is appended below.
4. DAAC Business:
What’s new in DTK? – didn’t have time to get to this one.
Adjournment – 5:41pm
Appendix 1: DAAC Terms of Reference Review
Appendix 2: Top 10 Global Trends 2023