With two years under his belt as chair of the downtown Sackville Business Improvement Association (BIA), Anthony Maddalena is planning to step down next month, and the organization in on the hunt for a new chair.
The BIA held their annual general meeting Wednesday night at town hall, and re-elected the current slate of directors, including, Maddelena, Wendy Epworth, Judith Cane, Andrew Black, and Chris Harborne. New nominee, Greg Soper was also elected.
Maddalena says that in addition to his impending resignation, treasurer Judith Cane is also planning to step down once a replacement can be found. He says that over the past two years, the board was focussed on revitalizing and organizing the institution which had grown inactive.
CHMA spoke with Maddelena shortly after the meeting Wednesday night.
“Basically, over the last year, we’ve completed all of the work that we felt we needed to complete before we were ready to rehire for that position,” says Maddalena. “We’re at a stage now where we’re looking for new board members, because a few of us are stepping down…and then also looking to hire someone to be basically a new manager for the Sackville BIA.”
Maddalena says the details of the position, last held by Gwen Zwicker who stepped down in May 2021, are to be determined, but the goal is to have a job description developed in the next month.
The BIA is funded by a tax levy on downtown commercial properties which yields an annual budget of about $20,000. Maddalena says there’s currently about $35,000 in the bank, due to unspent money from previous years. The group is also submitting a funding application to the federal government’s Rediscover Main Streets Initiative being administered by ACOA.
“There’s never been a better time to get involved with the BIA,” says Maddalena. “The nitty gritty work has been done. And now the fun work can begin.”
Maddalena says he is stepping down after two years so that he can focus on his business, Bagtown Brewing, but he hopes to remain involved in the organization. Either way, he’s got a pitch for local businesspeople not yet active in the BIA:
“You can get involved and immediately sink your teeth into revamping old initiatives, coming up with new initiatives. All things that are meant to help downtown businesses be more prosperous,” he says. “It’s truly a great opportunity and is extremely under-utilized, not just in Sackville, but across New Brunswick.”
Maddalena says that some of the revitalizing work of the last two years has been rebuilding the membership list of the BIA. All commercial property owners and renters within the downtown boundary are technically members of the BIA, and Maddalena says that employees are welcome to join meetings to represent their businesses.
“We’re going to put [the refreshed member list] to good work over the next month, reaching out to all the members to have conversations with everybody and see who might be willing to step up,” says Maddalena. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to find the right people.”
You can get in touch with the BIA board at SackvilleBIA-at-gmail.com.