FREMANTLE council’s finance and policy committee has deferred a decision on continuing funding for the Business Improvement District.

Council staff have reversed their previous position that the BID be defunded following meetings with new CEO Tim Milsom, who formerly headed up the local chamber of commerce.

But current chamber CEO Olwyn Williams isn’t convinced the BID is workable, and her concerns were enough to sway councillors to defer the item. It’ll come up again at the full council meeting on February 22.

Mr Milsom told the Herald they’d rustled up dozens of testimonials from participating businesses who were supportive of the BID’s new direction and business plan.

He says he’ll be focussing on bringing in big events and additional funding to the BID, saying during his recent stint heading up an Aboriginal corporation in Onslow he was able to turn around a funding black hole into a multimillion-dollar profit.