SELF-NOMINATION AND A $10,000 REQUEST IN FIVE WEEKS

By Scott Bird
Grimsby BIA Watch

On January 25, 2023, Mark Wood, who owns The Forty Public House, nominated himself as BIA Chair and Simon Duong, who owns Teddy's Restaurant, as Vice-Chair.

Roughly five weeks later, Duong asked his fellow board members for $10,000 for Happening in Grimsby (a 25% increase from 2022).

Because both Wood and Duong were involved with the Happening Festival, they stepped out for the vote after asking for additional funds. Treasurer Daniel Vandersteen then moved the $10,000 motion, and the remaining board members approved it. (including Christine Kempf, Kendra Wintels, Jeff Jordan, Chris Mindorff and Delight Davoli)

So the concern is not whether Wood and Duong voted on their own request. They did not.

The concern is how quickly the request arrived after the new BIA leadership took control, and how closely that leadership was connected to the Happening Board asking downtown merchants for more money.

DID YOU KNOW?

During the same March 1, 2023 meeting where Mark Wood and Simon Duong stepped out over their Happening/BIA conflict, Simon later moved a motion supporting the Farmers’ Market that is also financially tied to the Happening Festival, with no conflict recorded.  (Source 2023-03-01 GDBIA Meeting Minutes)