Walmart’s failure to fix their broken retaining wall has landed them in hot water with the Town of Drumheller.
With the store stonewalling the Town on completing the repairs, Drumheller’s Chief Administrative Officer will be paying a visit to the town solicitor seeking enforcement action.
“I’ve asked that administration take it in front of the judge to get a compliance order from the judge,” said Mayor Terry Yemen. “The judge will set the timeline.”
The Town is concerned about the stability of the roadway that runs alongside of Walmart and would like the wall repaired to prevent the ground caving in. “We’re looking at it as a health and safety issue, too.”
In a July 15 letter to Walmart, CAO Romanetz requested a response from the retailer within seven days providing the Town with a definite construction timeline to fix the wall.
The Mayor said the Town received no reply to their recent letter, but in conversations earlier this year, Walmart had told the Town it would be completing the repairs.
“It’s a promise and a commitment made by them to have it fixed in the spring - it didn’t happen.”
There are large areas on the retaining wall that are crumbling, and in two of those locations it’s easy to see the areas have experienced serious erosion.
The Mayor said the reason Walmart gave the Town for not doing the spring repairs was that they had only received one bid for the tender they put out on the work, and their company policy requires at least two bids be received.
Mayor Yemen was questioning why the company didn’t make another call for tender on the work, Walmart was questioning the Town’s jurisdiction, taking the position perhaps the province should be overseeing the matter because the store is located on a provincial highway right-of-way.
Yemen says a review of the Town issued building permit to Walmart states the retaining wall is included in the permit, thereby nullifying Walmart’s jurisdictional challenge and giving the Town the authority to take action.
