Mayor Terry Yemen shared the Towns top 2015 accomplishments and the top 2016 Initiatives.
1. Maintaining a low property tax rate increase to 2%. Terry Yemen commented, “Drumheller is probably the envy of many other communities.”
2. The Town was partners with Stevenson’s Homes and it looks very promising for the Hillview Subdivision. Two houses have been framed and at least two more are getting ready with holes already in the ground. The subdivision is all paved and the curbs are done.
3. Getting the water slides up and running was a great accomplishment and the Town is also looking at a gradual entry system in 2016. “The Town is currently working with engineering and hopefully the completion will be done this year. This is a priority within the community.” said Mayor Yemen.
4. The Mayor spoke about the completion of the skatepark. The Town formed a good partnership with DASE, contributing cash and in-kind donations to the project. “This is an incredible asset to young people of Drumheller,” he said.
5. A successful event was the Grand Fondo marathon bike race. From 2014 to 2015 participants increased by 3.5 times to just under 700.
6. Tough Mudder was an incredible event. Terry Yemen said “Due to the weather, Drumheller put the Tough in Tough Mudders and still saw over 6000 participants.” The Town is currently talking and negotiating for 2016 event.
7. The Town received lot of positive feedback on beautification projects such as the north and south entrances to the valley. Yemen expressed, “Munchie Park looks really nice and has been turned around.” Several new trees were also planted downtown.
8. There were Infrastructure improvements such as the partnership with Telus who spent $7,000,000 on the installation of the fibre optics system. Atco Electric is continuing their huge build out consolidating into one area. Atco Gas did a lot of infrastructure improvement, taking out the old lines and replacing with new. The Cast iron replacement program, which was a long project, is almost completed. Only one more section is to be done downtown.
Top Initiatives for 2016:
1. Tourism Levy Bylaw – Council had requested changes for Schedule B and once it is presented again, the Town will decide right away.
2. Infrastructure Master Plan – The Land Use Bylaw Amendments has not been revised for a number of years and the 2015 revision was given to council, who requested changes. Secondary suites will be discussed. The new revision will be presented in the New Year.
3. Economic Development Strategy –The Mayor explained, “It is a big driver to the community and we have to stay current with these troubled times. With today’s economy, we need to come up with a different strategy and regroup.”
4. Council has asked for a Recreation, Art and Cultural review. They need to look at the amount of dollars and services spent and compare them to other communities. A review will be done on the cost recovery for recreational facilities that we provide. Council requested more relevant comparisons’ to other similar sized towns.
5. Council has requested a study on the airport, specifically on who is using it and how many people or companies have airplanes stored there. Yemen said, “We realize the Regional partners are benefitting and maybe it needs to be renamed Drumheller and District Airport.” The study and factual information will be done early in 2016 and the final decision will be based on facts.
6. Flood mitigation is probably the most major component that we need results and answers to. Our grant application is in queue and we were informed that we would hear by end of year or early 2016. The Town has talked to MLA to lobby for us and get definitive answers.