As the strife within the Downtown Barrie Business Improvement Area (BIA) becomes more focused in the public eye and becomes a prominent topic at city hall, one member is speaking out from the eye of the storm.
In an interview with Randy Aylwin on Wednesday at his Grilled Social Eatery on Dunlop Street East, he told BarrieToday he has questioned many things since being elected to the board last winter, but for what he believes are very good reasons.
“Before I got elected and after I got elected, I am about one thing and that is process,” he said. “This isn’t a personality thing or a political thing, this is a process thing. It is about ethics and following rules.
"If you don’t have rules on a board, then you get people asking questions," Aylwin added. "I am for the downtown and just want to make sure we have proper governance.”
The 12-person BIA board, which is less than a year into its four-year-term, has been hard hit in recent weeks following the resignation of six members, including its chair and vice-chair.
Aylwin was voted onto the BIA board in December 2018 and joined nine others, plus the two city council representatives, including his son, Ward 2 Coun. Keenan Aylwin, and Ward 1 Coun. Clare Riepma.
Both councillors were removed from their BIA positions on Monday night following an in-camera meeting at city council and replaced with Coun. Sergio Morales.
Earlier Monday evening, during a deputation to city council to discuss the situation within the business association, recently resigned BIA chair Denise Tucker talked about "inappropriate behaviour, one from an elected board member and another from the councillors appointed to the BIA board."
Tucker said the executive and BIA staff had issues with an unnamed elected board member "being antagonistic and even threatening on occasion, but it seemed really drastic to seek the removal of one member from the board so early in the term."
Tucker has confirmed to BarrieToday that the unnamed board member she mentioned at city council was Randy Aylwin.
According to the minutes of a June 13 executive meeting of the BIA, Tucker said “the meetings sometimes feel like being on a firing squad” and that “Randy’s passion is great, but the aggression and harassment towards the BIA staff has to stop.”
Aylwin told BarrieToday there was an incident where he became aggressive, but he says he handled it immediately afterward.
“Did I lose my temper one time? Absolutely and I immediately apologized for it,” he said. “The day I lost my temper in the (staff) office, it wasn’t that I was angry at staff; I was angry with a process that the staff were involved in. I was angry at motions being passed around our boardroom table and then being changed before it got acted upon by staff.”
There was a previously scheduled board meeting the same night, Aylwin said, and he took managing director Craig Stevens outside to apologize before the two discussed where they stood on the issues.
Tucker said she and the board had been chalking up Aylwin's behaviour to being passionate in his beliefs, adding he brought many great and helpful ideas to the board. But that mindset eventually changed, she says.
“When staff come to you about feeling harassed, you have to act on it,” Tucker said in an interview with BarrieToday. “I had to mention it eventually, also because the BIA board was being mentioned in the same breath as ‘chaos’ and that wasn’t fair to anyone.”
At city council's general committee meeting on Oct. 7, Coun. Mike McCann used the phrase "season of chaos" to describe what the BIA was going through with the downtown dig and mass resignations from the BIA board.
At the June 13 special BIA meeting, Aylwin also talked about lack of transparency on the board. "(He) feels that the current executive is following in the same path," according to the minutes of the meeting. "He feels that there are too many secret meetings and whispering going on in board meeting that need to stop."
Aylwin says he may rub some people the wrong way, but told BarrieToday it isn’t intended as disrespect or disdain. He says he wants the board and the community to get along.
“I know I question things, it's who I am, but it isn’t meant to disrespect or hurt others,” he said. “We can have a difference of opinion and argue a matter, but we don’t have to hate each other.”
The Downtown Barrie BIA board has been cut in half in recent weeks after six members stepped down. There had been talk around the city council table about appointing new members amid turmoil on the BIA board.
Council decided this week to allow the BIA to elect new members following the recent resignations, while also modifying the rules around quorum — the minimum number of members necessary to make decisions — so that the board can conduct business in the interim.
Earlier this month, Wayne Hay and Tracey Baker were the first BIA members to step down. Just a few days later, Tucker and vice-chair Tom Ambeau, as well as members Jason Ing and Paul Lynch, all signed a joint letter announcing their resignations from the board, as well.
The remaining six board members, including Councillors Aylwin and Riepma, who have since been removed from the BIA board, issued a joint statement Oct. 17 declaring they would work through "governance challenges" in order to become more accountable and transparent. Also signing the letter of solidarity were secretary-treasurer Michelle Huggins and board members Chad Ballantyne, Teresa Woolard, and Randy Aylwin.
“There have been some great people who have chaired this board: Wayne (Hay), Janet Kemp,” Aylwin told BarrieToday. “I think this is just natural evolution in a city that is growing the way we are. We need to institute governance and policy.”
The BIA elections in December 2018 saw eight new members join the 12-person board, which Aylwin said illustrated that his need for change was warranted.
“In my experience, people are uncomfortable when change is requested,” he said. “My whole point has been we have eight new members, how do you not get change?”
Aylwin says he often hears that he has a 'hidden agenda' for being on the board, a claim he scoffs at.
“Our job as the BIA is to get feet on the ground and get people on these sidewalks, because then there's a pretty good chance they’ll come in and eat a grilled cheese,” he said in a reference to his own restraurant.
“The more grilled cheese I sell, the more sales I do. The more sales I do, my landlord can now raise my rent, which then raises his property value and everybody in the circle wins," Aylwin added.
Aylwin says he welcomes Morales to the BIA table and even sent the councillor a text message saying so. That being said, the businessman adds he won't stop voicing his concerns for proper governance.
“I’ve said to people on the board that once we get that down, I can resign,” he said.
