If you own a business in Midland here is what you need to know

The council of Midland is urging businesses to take more initiative.

Midland Town Council is expected to ask town staff to investigate the possibility of implementing a vacant building tax for the downtown area. It also considers new regulations requiring building owners to upkeep their storefronts when they are not in use.

Unused and unkept businesses in downtown Midland have caught the eye of the town council.

"We are not reinventing the wheel; other communities have these. We are looking at strengthening our property standards by law by adding some more teeth. You know, we have a lot of carrots. We don't have a lot of sticks. This isn't meant to punish the people who are doing the good work. This is meant to incentivize more the people that, for decades or more, just haven't cared enough about their building," says Bill Gordon, Mayor of Midland.

Gordon and many business owners in the downtown area say that many buildings have been vacant or unkept, affecting other businesses.

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts
• Get the latest updates sent to your email

"It would be great if there were less vacant storefronts in the downtown core; the more businesses that are open and thriving, the more people want to come down, and the better it is for all of us," says Wesley Hains, who just opened Let Me Be Frank, a hot dog shop in the downtown.

The mayor says the goal is to continue improving the downtown experience. He points to the millions of dollars it has invested in the downtown in recent years and feels it's time to force some property owners who are not looking after their property to help with the downtown experience.

Megan Marchildon is a downtown business owner and the Business Improvement Association (BIA) co-chair.

"If all of us are working together to create a beautiful, thriving and prosperous downtown, it would be great. It is important that the business reflect that, and it is part of the BIA initiative because it does help our overall downtown," says Megan Marchildon, a co-chair with the local BIA.

"We can deal with zoning, we can deal with property standards, and a new tool that's available to us is a vacant unit tax," says Mayor Gordon.

Both ideas will be discussed at tomorrow night's council meeting. Mayor Gordon states that public input will be thoroughly considered before making final decisions.