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Internet speed positions Drumheller for future growth

John Shoff2

    As the fast reliable exchange of information becomes more crucial to business, Drumheller is well poised for the future with blazing Internet speeds.
    About 15 years ago the SuperNet buried fibre optic lines to many communities in Alberta. Since then major players such as Shaw and Telus have also beefed up their infrastructure. Today Drumheller can compete with major centres for reliability and speed for the Internet.
     “We are currently fifth in Alberta (for speed),” said economic development officer for The Town of Drumheller, Julia Fielding.
    She says just beyond what residential customers could use speedy Internet for, there is a real economic advantage for small and large business.
    “What it means  is you don’t have to worry if your internet is going to go down, you have reliability, and it means you can use it the best possible way. We have had companies interested in here because they want to be connected to the fibre network, which again offers high speed and reliability. They don’t want to be in the middle of a transaction and have it collapse.”
 John Shoff of Reality Bytes says while the SuperNet was the pioneer, other companies have followed, offering high quality residential and commercial products. Currently he say about half the homes in Drumheller have fibre infrastructure right to their door that is accessible through a variety of companies.
    “Even in rural areas we are able to do up to 300 Megabits/ second,” said Shoff. “If we are able to get them on a local network (fibre optic) we can do up to 10 gigabytes. Of course, the price isn’t cheap, but that is our maximum for dedicated business fibre.”
    There are options for rural customers as well that offer a high-quality product through fixed wireless and satellite. There is also turbo hubs in rural areas through major providers.
    “It is nice having multiple options here and we are in a really good spot in Drumheller because we have so many good options to get service now,” said Shoff.
    He says this offers the valley an advantage over other communities.
    “A community like Drumheller, we probably aren’t going to get a head office for some huge corporation, but we can definitely attract a branch office. We can attract remote workers,” he said. “It levels the playing field.”
    Steve Barr, the owner of Aerial Internet Solutions, says his product is fixed wireless, and it offers comparable service to Drumheller as well as rural areas.
    He says having this service allows people to better make life and professional decisions.
    “Everything is internet driven now, so they have the option, if they don’t want to live in town, they don’t have to,” said Barr. “I have some clients that work from home and with the high-speed Internet, they are able to do that.”
    Fielding adds that it offers more flexibility for the changing workforce.
    “Say someone has a main office in Calgary, but they can stay at home in Drumheller and work here. A lot of newer jobs are like that and we can offer the lovely small community, small-town lifestyle, and they don’t have to go fight their way through the big city,” she said, adding she knows of a person in the area that does this and they have not been in the office for three years.
    In many ways, Drumheller is ahead of the curve compared to similar communities.
    “I know a lot of other rural communities that are having to put grants together, really push getting new infrastructure, so for the Internet, we are ahead of the game,” she said.


Morrin arena fundraising surpasses $65,000 target

20171228 Kendra Sommerville Morrin Arena TJH 0004

    The Morrin Agriculture Society has officially raised enough funds for a new ice plant header.
    The Mail reported last December the header for the arena was close to failing, ultimately costing the society at least $50,000 for a replacement. Their quick thinking has paid off as almost $77,000 has been raised.
    “Basically what we are doing is we have enough money to replace the header and then of course the other things that we need to replace is upgrading the lighting system because that’s outdated and we have to repair the roof,” explained Kendra Sommerville, treasurer of the Morrin Agriculture Society. “Whatever is left over from those after replacing the header will be used to help upgrade the other items in the building.”
    An artificial ice plant consists of a primary and a secondary refrigerant. The primary refrigerant is usually Ammonia or Freon. The primary refrigerant cools the secondary refrigerant, usually a brine solution of calcium chloride and water. The primary refrigerant stays in the compressor room and the secondary refrigerant (brine) is circulated underneath the arena floor cooling the ice.
    The headers act as a manifold to deliver cold brine under the arena slab and return it back to the compressor room to be cooled once again by the primary refrigerant.
    A rubber membrane will be installed on the top of the roof to prevent further water damage from leaks and the lighting system will be replaced with an up-to-date system for better visibility.
    Donations are pouring in for a new donation wall which will showcase all the donors with farm themed plaques.
    “We decided we are not going to put up the donation wall while it’s being used so this spring and summer we are going to have it finally assembled and then we are hoping to have a revealing in September,” said Sommerville.
    A mural representing the farm theme will be painted by either a Morrin School student or any willing and dedicated volunteer.
    Drumheller Metal Works will be creating the donor plaques. People or individual businesses with amounts as low as $250 up to as high as $5,000 or more will receive one of these customized plaques.
    “We are still accepting donations, this donation wall is going to be an ongoing process because we will need to do the lighting and the roof so there is those kinds of things that need to get done,” said Sommerville. “Unfortunately the government has cut funding to the grants that you can apply for so that’s why we have to rely on the community.”
    Sommerville is happy to live in a strong community such as Morrin.
    “I’m very grateful for the support of the community,” said Sommerville. “I’m just so happy about how this community is around us.”

Council shares 2018 capital/operating budgets

20180312 Council Budget Open House TJH 0003

Drumheller Town council gave the residents of the community the opportunity to discuss with residents about the proposed capital and operational budgets on Monday, March 12, at the Badlands Community Facility (BCF).
Council hopes this feedback will help them understand and solidify what the people want to see while also giving chances for their thoughts to be heard.
“We are trying to be as transparent as possible with the public about giving them a man on the street and every man’s view of how the multi-million dollar corporation that is the Town of Drumheller, operates on an annual basis,” said Councillor Jay Garbutt. “So we’ve managed to break out how both the capital and operating budgets are going to work for 2018 and then hopefully give people a chance to come and ask questions they have about why we spend the resources we have through taxes.”
Residents will be seeing a 3 per cent increase in taxes due to unforeseen costs for the operational budget. One of the things the town has been aware of has been increased wages for employees directly under the town's umbrella of employment.
“I think generally people understand that if they worked for us and they did a good job they would expect that their wages would go up by at least the cost of living increase every year and so every year that means we are going to be spending a little more money on operating because certainly paying the people we have to do certain jobs that they do is a large portion of our operating budget,” explained Garbutt.
This open house is a new opportunity followed through by this freshly elected council.
“When it comes to the operating budget we tend to get feedback a little after the fact,” said Garbutt. “We were trying to get some more feedback before the budget has been passed so that is a real change in one of the ways we’ve been doing things around here and I think that is an important change. I think it is important to engage with people before the budget is passed which is really the point of doing this [open house].”
The 3 per cent increase can be split nearly three ways; One per cent will go towards the RCMP, another towards the increase in the provincial carbon tax, and one per cent in wages.
“A single point of the property tax increase is entirely attributable this year to a dramatic increase in our expenses for the RCMP that is actually being hoisted on them in new training and equipment requirements that they didn’t see coming and we certainly didn’t see coming,” said Garbutt.
The capital budget this year includes flood mitigation projects as one of the highest costing priorities which will be funded through grants, borrowing, and reserves.
“That’s a long overdue movement of some dirt to improve the safety of this community from high water events,” said Garbutt. “We’ve had a number of outstanding issues with the Province of Alberta and we are finally coming to see the end of those conflicts and hoping to move forward.


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