Council Notes
Drumheller Town Council
Committee of the Whole Meeting
Monday, February 25, 2019
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Councillors Tony Lacher, Jay Garbutt, and Lisa Hansen-Zacharuk were absent from the meeting.
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Councillor Fred Makowecki was sworn in as deputy mayor for the months of March and April.
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Mayor Heather Colberg declared this week to be Freedom to Read Week.
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Council heard a delegation from ATCO Electric’s Jen Friesen, Nick Peelar, and Patrick Charron about better understanding electricity costs and to field questions regarding customers bills.
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Council held a review of strategic plan work priorities. Communications officer Julia Fielding said work continues on the Economic Development Strategy and will be brought to council in the near future. FCSS coordinator April Harrison provided an update on work on poverty reduction in the community. CAO Darryl Drohomerski said Drumheller and the surrounding counties are collaborating to meet in the spring to find ways to find greater efficiencies together. CAO Drohomerski said the town plans to install the downtown
plaza in the current Elks building location once it’s torn down. He said they won’t be closing Centre Street this year. Director of Protective Services Greg Peters said the town received $5,000 grant funding to carry out an emergency scenario practice. A scenario has not been decided upon yet. Ms. Fielding said a community profile and promotional piece for Drumheller to be published by Travel Alberta has been drafted and hopes it will be completed by the end of next week.
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CAO Drohomerski and Mr. Peters lead a discussion over revisions made to the draft Community Standards Bylaw as were recommended by council last week. They removed time limits on fire pits, saying if there is a disturbance due to smoke or noise that other sections is sufficient. Derelict vehicles will be assessed based on the discretion of the CAO. Discussions were held over the Tourism Corridor Bylaw but no major changes were made.
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Council held discussion over the draft Municipal Emergency Management Bylaw which identifies the powers and roles of officials and individuals in the event of an emergency. It comes to first reading on March 18.
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Council heard a roundtable discussion from councillor Makowecki regarding Airbnbs. He said there are Airbnbs in the community who registered for business licenses and
development permits, which are required, but a number of others who have not registered. He said council should look how to integrate these businesses so they are accountable and could be marketed to town visitors. CAO Drohomerski said there are 50 Airbnbs in the community and they should be contacted to let them know licensing is required.