Council Notes
Drumheller Town Council
Regular Council Meeting
Monday, April 16, 2018
On Monday, April 16, the Regular Counsil Meeting commenced at Town Hall.
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Mayor Heather Colberg proclaimed April 15 to 21, 2018 as Volunteer Week in the Town of Drumheller.
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Acting Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and Director of Protective Services, Greg Peters made a Request for Direction (RFD) regarding the direction of Fenced Dog Park planning, design and possible locations for consideration.
Mr. Peters explained that an estimate of fencing one square acre with a height of at least 5 feet would be $16,000.
He found that basic features of the park may include things like separate water stations for both pets and humans, benches, adequate shade, convenient parking, signage, etc. Mr. Peters wanted to focus his attention and preference on access to water sources for cost efficiency.
Locations up for debate include 1100 Riverside Drive East near Participark, the area behind Extra Foods, in Bankview behind the industrial area, Newcastle Beach behind the field station in the flood zone, 19th St. East at Riverside Drive East, and Midland North of 1st Ave NW near the intersection of 20th St.
Council decided to put further research into the project before deciding on any location or design.
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Mr. Peters made another RFD regarding Brownfield Redevelopments within Drumheller. He recently researched the City of Hamilton, Ontario where the city encouraged builders and developers to redevelop brownfield sites.
Brownfield sites are identified as underdeveloped or previously developed properties that may be contaminated and are usually former industrial or commercial properties that may be underutilized or vacant.
The ERASE (Environmental Remediation and Site Enhancement) program is solely administered by the city. It is an incentive based program with the advantage of a tax relaxation over a period of years until the ERASE program is completed.
Mr. Peters asked council for direction as to what to do with this information.
Councillor Jay Garbutt mentioned that a dedicated capital reserve may be the best way to potentially start this process with funding beginning in 2019.
Councillor Tom Zariski suggested that they should identify specific properties that would have the best value before using this style of program’s guidelines.
Council agreed to speak further with the Economic Task Force to get more insight before making any further decisions.
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Council tabled the motion to consider the appointment of Linda Gerlinger to the Assessment Review Board (ARB) until more information can be brought forward. Newly appointed ARB members and clerks are required to complete a training program provided by the Municipal Government Board.
Council agreed that the course may be an unwise way to spend money at this time as ARB hearings are uncommon in Drumheller and there are potential ways to outsource members if needed.
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Council adopted Bylaw 5.18 to authorize the rates of taxation to be levied against assessable properties within the town of Drumheller for the 2018 taxation year.
The 2018 municipal requisition of $8,718,766 set by council earlier this year through the Operating Budget reflected a 3 per cent increase over the 2017 requisition.
This year’s education property tax requisition is $2,738,682 which equates to an increase of 1.44 per cent over the 2017 requisition. The 2018 Drumheller and District Seniors Foundation (DDSF) requisition of $540,272.50 represents an increase of 3.8 per cent over 2017.
An analysis of the assessment year over year indicated that on average, residential assessment values decreased by 0.87 per cent and commercial assessment values decreased by 1.5 per cent.
Please see story on front page of the Drumheller Mail to get the full story on how these numbers affect taxes.
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Mayor Heather Colberg brought forth the idea of having youth representatives interact with council in order to give them a voice.
She thought that having senior high students from each school in Drumheller come together to discuss and collaborate ideas that matter to them while exposing them to what council does and hearing what the students wish to see for the town.