Council Notes

Drumheller Town Council

Regular Council Meeting
Monday, December 11, 2017

A public hearing commenced for Bylaw 12.17 being a bylaw to amend Section 30, the Downtown Transition district, by adding the following use of the list of discretionary uses; Self Storage Facility. The property in question, can best be described as the old High School property on 5th Street East.
November 14 was the passing of the first reading.
Cynthia Cvik, CEO and director of planning of the Palliser Regional Municipal Services presented their viewpoint on the bylaw amendment. The Municipal Planning Commission (MPC) endorses the recommendation of the Palliser Regional Municipal Services. MPC does not recommend the support for the proposed text amendment to add “Self Storage Facility” to the list of discretionary uses in the downtown transition district.
As stated in the current bylaw, this district is intended to promote tourism, service businesses and to retain the residential character of the neighbourhood.
The Town of Drumheller received letters from the community and the Drumheller and District Chamber of Commerce (DDCC). All parties recommended that the facility should be stationed in the Industrial end of town rather than the current location.
Council defeated the motion after second reading of the bylaw.
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Council went over Bylaw 14.17, being a bylaw to set the utility rates for 2018 before going over the second and third reading.
Councillor Tony Lacher researched and found that Drumheller was one of the cheapest places by only charging 80 per cent of water consumption for sewer. This bylaw comes into effect on January 1, 2018.
The motion was carried to increase the utility rates after third reading.

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Council appointed Brandon Strilisky to the Heritage, Arts and Culture Committee.

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IT services for the Town of Drumheller is provided through contracted work. Due for renewal, the terms of the existing contract were extended earlier this year to December 31, 2017 in order to allow time for a Request for Proposal (RFP) to be issued, responses to be evaluated and a new service contract awarded.
This term will stretch over five years and 12 proposals were received. Awarding an RFP is not solely based on price but rather other factors such as level of service, professional qualifications of staff and corporate experience was also given much consideration. Three IT businesses were asked to present their proposal and organizational fit with the requirements of the town.
Dave White from Trinus Technologies Inc. presented on behalf of that company. They proposed a bill of $92,100 per year. They also work with the Town of Olds and Starland County.
John Shoff of Reality Bytes presented. Reality Bytes is based out of Drumheller. They have proposed an amount of $78,000 a year, the second lowest price offered by the 12 companies.
The ITeam presentation was conducted by president James Wagner and Dan Salmzer. They offered a price of $85,949.
Council awarded the IT contract to Reality Bytes.
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Council Notes
Drumheller Town Council
Committee of the Whole Meeting
Monday, December 4, 2017 Mayor Heather Colberg called the Committee of the Whole meeting to order at 4:32 p.m.
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Council started off by listening to the Drumheller Public Library board. Director of Library Services Emily Hollingshead and library board member Vanessa Page explained both summer and school year programs as well as outreach programs. The library was host to two main summer camps this year. They create a budget along with a Plan of Service every three years.
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Travel Drumheller was next to present their organizational update on current services and growth within the tourism industry. Carrie Lunde of the Royal Tyrrell Museum and Alyssa Berry presented.
Travel Drumheller has a vision to make Drumheller a sought out, year-round top travel destination of Alberta and the world.
A key highlight for the past year included a revamped Travel Drumheller website. They are the main driver between tourists and businesses within the Valley. They had 30,000 to 50,000 website visits in the high season this year and 15,000 in the low season.
Another highlight was a redesigned exploration guide that held a magazine style. It was content driven, not a revenue maker. For the new distribution, they will make 80 per cent of the guides produced placed outside of Drumheller to draw people in and increase the amount of copies to 40,000. They explained their 2018 goals such as growing their social media platforms, robust digital focused marketing campaigns, marketing buy-in program, media partnerships, and regular website updates, and turning Drumheller into an all-year round destination. They also discussed their yearly budget including the revenue and expenses associated with the entire tourism related entity
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Citizen on Patrols (COP) gave a brief update on their year in review. They explained their purpose and how operations are run through volunteer work. COP works with the local RCMP to help create a safer community. They wish to increase their presence in the area. 114 patrols were made in 2016 but only 90 in 2017 so far. In 2016, they were on patrol for 398.8 hours. In 2017, they have done 270 hours.
They wish to have a main meeting place for work, equipment, and sensitive information. They are hoping to patrol all week but have found this to be very difficult with no central meeting place.
They also explained how the public can become a COP member and having 40 members would let the COP operate seven days a week. Currently 20 members are involved with COP. Council agreed to look further into finding a safe space for the Drumheller COP group
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Council reviewed the 2018 water and wastewater rates for the Town of Drumheller. They looked at legislative provisions governing these water utilities, why rate models are prepared beforehand, interrelationship of the rate models and other financial plans, the council’s rate objectives, and different 2018 rate models could be implemented.
Robert (Bob) Jenkins was the facilitator of the presentation. He has undertaken preparation of the 2015, 2017, and 2018 utility rate models for Drumheller.
Drumheller supplies water to Aqua 7 Regional Water Services Commission, Starland County, and Kneehill County. These rates do not need to be approved by the Alberta utilities commission however there is a right of appeal of customers to the AUC.
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For the CAO’s quarterly report, Darryl Drohomerski reported the town continues to work on flood mitigation related issues. In the last quarter, council approved the 2017 Infrastructure Strategy. This is a document that allows the town to manage its own infrastructure. The strategy focuses primarily on maintaining and replacing existing infrastructure.
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CAO Darryl Drohomerski also gave the Director of Infrastructure report as the new candidate for the position is yet to be finalized. They are continuing work on the aquaplex modernization. No date has been set for re-opening. The town also completed its LED light replacement at the Drumheller Memorial Arena for both interior and exterior fixtures.
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Corporate Services Director Barb Miller reports that over-all expenses appear to be on track with individual services, trending to be on or below target. Tax receivable balances as of August 31, were approximately $190,000 higher than in the previous year
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Director of Community Services Paul Salvatore highlighted a new design for the revitalization of downtown. They are working with company Urban Systems for this design. A concept has been received and will only be shared with stakeholders.
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Protective Services Director Greg Peters reported on a tourism corridor bylaw which has been completed and sent to the CAO for his review. This is to help the town maintain, enhance and preserve its characters, scenery, history, and aesthetics. They are continuing to work on a regional emergency services master plan with the final draft to be delivered to the contractor in December.