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Council unanimously approved a decision to appoint Tracy Breese as the new Development Officer.
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Council unanimously approved a decision to appoint Bella Niles to the Heritage, Arts, and Culture Committee for no fixed term. Council noted more people are needed for the committee.
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Council unanimously approved a decision to appoint bylaw officer Lesley Pepper as the Weed Inspector to enforce provincial noxious weed laws.
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Council held a review of strategic business plan work priorities. Communications officer, Julia Fielding, says the economic development strategy action plan has been completed and will be presented to council in the future. The communication plan for a flood preparedness program has launched and there are a few more minor details to be finished. Ms. Fielding said a town communication plan is ongoing but a draft plan has been written. They are looking at using a smartphone app to help communications. A new town dinosaur logo continues to be worked on in collaboration with the Royal Tyrrell Museum. Two options will be presented to the committee soon. CAO Darryl Drohomerski said potential sites for a toboggan hill will be brought to council in April. CAO Drohomerski said candidates for the economic development officer positions have been shortlisted and three candidates will be interviewed this week for the vacant director of infrastructure position.
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Council held discussions over the draft Capital Budget. CAO Drohomerski and Director of Corporate Services, Barb Miller, presented a list of potential projects for the capital budget. A copy of the draft budget was not provided to the public at the meeting, which includes more projects/costs than identified here. Council discussed building public washrooms for the downtown plaza, which would be self-contained units connected to water and sewer lines. The washrooms would be built in modified sea cans which could be moved to other locations. Director of Protective Services, Greg Peters, said the fire department is seeking an replacement for the 12 year old fire truck for the fire chief, for a budgeted $50,000. An additional pumper truck and ladder pumper is also being asked for by the Drumheller department, and a further $100,000 has been budgeted in 2019. The town’s prospective 5-year flood mitigation program is budgeted at $4,600,000 over the next three years and then $4,582,400 in 2022. Federal and provincial grant funding has been applied for by the town and awaits approval. A total of $220,000 is budgeted for beautification work over the next three years ($60,000, $100,000, and $60,000), to be taken from the transportation reserve. Council has identified potential work on the fountain near the World’s Largest Dinosaur to reduce costs and to fix an unknown water leak from the fountain, with $250,000 budgeted to be taken from the facility reserve in 2020. An assessment of the underground conditions of the fountain is likely to be done this year. Work had been identified to renovate the women’s washroom and part of the men’s room at the Aquaplex, which will be done this year, but an underlying issue is the high humidity of the pool, coupled with inadequate HVAC system, causes issues with paint and rust, so an additional solution to combat the high humidity is sought with the help of available grants. Total capital project amounts for 2019 are $4,900,000, $6,022,000 for 2020, and $4,600,000 in 2021.