Council Notes of Regular Meeting of Tuesday, September 3
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Mayor Heather Colberg was not present and deputy mayor Jay Garbutt assumed Mayor Colberg’s role.
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Council unanimously approved a request for decision to approve the purchase of chemical for the Aquaplex and water/ wastewater treatment plants. Two companies submitted eligible quotes and infrastructure services director Dave Brett said awarding three separate purchase orders, for three years would be the most cost efficient and provide protection market changes. Klearwater would provide four products for $485,583 and ClearTech would provide a total of 13 products for the water treatment plants and 3 products for the Aquaplex for a total of $310,061, for a total of $795,644 (estimated annual value of $265,214). Brett said the items will be ordered on a per needed basis by facility employees. Director Brett said he estimated $140,000 would be saved by ordering the chemical on a three year term, compared to on an annual basis as had been done in the past.
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Director of Protective and Emergency Services Greg Peters presented council with information regarding intrusion alarm policy changes by the Alberta RCMP. Police said early last year they would no longer dispatch members to unverified or single-zone alarm warnings because of a drain on working hours and costs. He said so far this year Drumheller RCMP responded to 58 alarm calls, but only three alarms eventually led to a police investigation. In 2018, there were only 8 genuine alarm calls out of 192 total calls. Councillor Fred Makowecki said he believed council should write a letter to the RCMP saying they were disappointed to not have been consulted, and the town should communicate the change to the public. Director Peters said the RCMP had not consulted with municipalities province wide. Chief Administrative Officer Darryl Drohomerski said the intention of this report was to communicate the change to the public. Councillor Tom Zariski said his involvement with community enforcement showed an ongoing issue of officer overtime for the Drumheller RCMP detachment, and said it is an unfortunate but logical step for the RCMP. Councillor Kristyne DeMott said she worries this may make people more likely to take police matters into their own hands. Councillor Garbutt said this is an RCMP decision so he believes the RCMP should be responsible to communicate this. Communications Officer Julia Fielding said an article is ready to be posted online and on the The Drumheller Mail’s town page.