City Centre Development Agency vote in May

By Medicine Hat News on March 16, 2021.

Members of the City Centre Development Agency will vote in May on the fate of the business improvement area.

City council approved dates and a ballot question on Monday as the final step before those who pay the levy for the downtown business promotion group.

Voting will take place in the city hall board room on the May 11 (in an advanced poll) and May 13, along with mail-in ballots to those who can prove they will be away from the city on those dates or are homebound, said city clerk Angela Cruickshank.

“Only taxpayers in the Business Improvement Area (BIA) are eligible to vote,” she said, responding to questions of clarification from Coun. Kris Samraj, council’s rep on the CCDA board.

The process was triggered last month when organizers of petition passed the required 25 per cent of stakeholders to force a referendum of “disestablishment.”

Council passed the first reading of a bylaw dissolving the group and its board last month, and now will await the results of the vote before further readings.

If approved, the agency would cease to exist on June 30, the same day this year’s levy is due.

If not, the bylaw is to be voted down.

The timing of the May vote allows three council meeting dates before the end of June for either to be accomplished, said Cruickshank.

Organizers say they collected more than 80 signatures of the near 190 members on the CCDA levy roll.

That roll will be used to determine voting eligibility, and is comprised of business operators who pay a levy based on square footage, not property owners, within the BIA’s boundaries.

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