The Huntsville BIA office has a new home.

As of last Thursday, the office is now located within the walls of the TD Canada Trust building located at 38 Main Street East. The BIA has had an office in the basement of Trinity United Church for the past two years.

BIA general manager Robin Brushey said the move was made because the bank “made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.”

“This enables us to spread our budget a little bit further. Also, when I had the office at Trinity I was there by myself and if someone came in for service, they wouldn’t get a very warm reception. This way people can pick things up or drop them off at reception when I am not here.”

Brushey said the bank also provides a central location for members and the public to access the office as well as offering wheelchair accessibility.

The BIA will now host board meeting at members’ individual businesses rather than in the church’s conference room. “Some of the members have space that can accommodate a meeting and there is a boardroom here we can use as well. We have also gone to once-a-month meetings so it is not that big of a deal.”

Brushey said the board decided two months ago that a new location was needed for the office.

Ingrid van Vlymen, the manager of the downtown TD location, is a member of the BIA board of management. She said the idea for the BIA moving into the branch building came from a visiting bank official. “My senior vice-president and district vice-president were in town to meet with me and they got around to talking about my community involvement. I told them about what we were doing with the BIA and what the needs were at the time. They mentioned if there was a possible way that we could help the BIA, they would like to look at it.”

She said that a proposal was formulated and both sides agreed to give the business relationship a try. The idea was to move Brushey and the office into a space that was no longer occupied.

Brushey said she hopes to have the office unpacked and operational by the end of this week.