Council Notes

Committee of the Whole Monday, November 21, 2016

During November 21 Committee of the whole meeting Cindie Hughes, new chair for Travel Drumheller, gave an update on Travel Drumheller. Mrs. Hughes said that the board has revamped their ideas moving forward with promoting Drumheller as a year round destination as priority. In 2016, Travel Drumheller developed a full new logo and brand, as well as created a new mission statement and vision. The new vision helps showcase more than just dinosaurs and shows what Drumheller has to offer. Mrs. Hughes said that some key initiatives for 2017 are to create a new visitor guide, that will be magazine size and be digital and social media compatible; implement a digital focused marketing campaign including website, social media advertising, content creation and dissemination; stronger communication with stakeholders; media partnerships with local regional media on weekly tourism tips, Valley events and industry news that will target not only tourists but locals as well; and create clear Benchmarking, analytics and evaluation metrics. Mrs. Hughes said that Travel Drumheller is hoping the town will support them by putting $40,000 toward moving forward.
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Local mom, Nikki Isley, spoke on behalf of the Greentree school council to request in kind donations by the town to help make some additions to the Greentree school playground a reality.
Mrs. Isley said, “with the school’s ever growing student population has made a playground addition a necessity, We wanted to put in more elements that were more attractive to the older grades, as the current playground is more geared toward the younger grades. Along the way accessibility became an important factor thus changing the focus to include several elements that allow inclusive play and accessibility. The playground will be open to the public.”
Mrs. Isley explained to council that it was deemed necessary to do some upgrades by removing the gravel, around the current playground. Also since the current playground did not have adequate drainage, weeping tile is also an important part of the upgrades.
The school council presented the council with plans, picture and an outline of the costs needed to fulfill the upcoming upgrades.
Currently, Friends of Greentree School Society has raised $95,000 and have applied for the Municipal Demonstration Grant for about $22,000 and the Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) which is a program that matches funds raised up to $125,000. Mrs. Isley said that they are looking to the town for in kind work such as labor or excavation of the site. These in kind donations can be added to the amount raised for the matching grant through CFEP.
CAO, Ray Romanetz said that they have already given a letter of support to the Greentree school council and it looks very positive that the town could help with the in-kind donations.
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The Director of Corporate Services, Barbara Miller, proposed that the Town of Drumheller award the contract for banking services to Scotia Bank. Scotia Bank and Chinook Financial were found the top two financial institutions after considering what all six financial institutions had to offer. Council agreed on a five year contract with Scotia Bank.
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Tom Zariski provided council with an update on The Friends of Drumheller. He said that a main priority that the society was facing was to find about ten people to serve on the society for it to be successful. Zariski challenged council to go out and personally recruit the people to be a part of the society. Council agreed that administration and councillors have to come up with two names of people they want to approach to join The Friends of Drumheller Society. This society gives people the opportunity to be able to be involved in fundraising efforts to benefit the town.
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The meeting then turned to legal in-camera matters.

Council Notes
From the regular meeting of
Monday, Nov. 14, 2016

At the November 14 Town Council Meeting, Council completed both second and third reading of the bylaw to close a portion of airspace over the East Coulee Hotel. These readings were done after the bylaw was approved by Alberta Transportation. This is being read and passed for the purpose of constructing balconies with support columns on the second storey of the East Coulee Hotel.
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Council agreed to appoint Margaret Nielsen as the representative to the Marigold Library System. Mrs. Nielsen has served the maximum time as a Library Board member of three consecutive terms. She will serve as the representative for a term of three years which will expire in 2019.
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The Director of Corporate Services, Barbara Miller, proposed that the Town of Drumheller award the contract for banking services to Scotia Bank. Scotia Bank and Chinook Financial were found as the top two financial institutions after considering what all six financial institutions had to offer. Council agreed on a five year contract with Scotia Bank.
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Administration provided council with quarterly reports.
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The Chief Administrative Officer’s report included the completion of the Tourism Levy Report. The Land Use Bylaw Amendments were also passed. CAO Romanetz also said that during the third quarter, council was presented a draft of the Infrastructure Master Plan and it is anticipated the Asset Management Plan will be presented for approval in January, 2017. CAO Romanetz said that some of the Economic Development Strategy the Economic Development Task Force worked on was the establishment of a Wayfinding Signage Committee to review and recommend the development, design and implementation of pedestrian signage, the first Storefront Improvement Grant cheques handed out, and the submission of three grant applications.
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Director of Infrastructure Services, Darryl Drohomerski presented council with the priorities for the third quarter. They included; presenting the draft master plan; identifying needed improvements to the Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and including it in the budget for 2017; the street improvement program, which took longer than anticipated because of weather related delays; completing the water main replacement program; landscaping the East Coulee fill station; the completion of the arena handrail which has received positive feedback from the community; providing council with an airport report and the completion of concrete medians on Highway 9 South.
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Barb Miller, Director of Corporate Services, provided council with a report stating that property tax recovery went better than anticipated. Mrs. Miller said there was a noticeable increase in the number of residents enrolling in the monthly payment plan. She also said the E-billing campaign was going well. The STEP grant application was approved and new funding had become available. Mrs. Miller also provided council with the third quarter’s operating statements and noted the individual functions are trending on or below target.
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Director of Community Services, Paul Salvatore provided a quarterly report which included; wayfinding committee working through the initial design concept and tentatively scheduling the installation for November 2016; the development board featuring several new members and is focusing on a joint meeting with council to discuss economic readiness. The report also showed the heritage, arts, and culture policy was approved by council for $5,000 in municipal grants. Mr. Salvatore also said the Hillsview 2 project commenced and there are six houses that have completed construction. Affordable Housing has worked with CMHC and Drumheller Housing Administration and the Provincial Government has announced an affordable housing framework to be announced late 2017.
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Director of Protective Services, Greg Peters presented Council with the Protective Services Quarterly Report. Mr. Peters said Bylaw received 267 calls for service including parking issues, noise, animal issues, business licenses and issues related to property and upkeep. There were 58 calls for service reported by the fire chief, one was a fatal fire and was investigated by our fire chief in cooperation with RCMP, provincial fire commissioner and the provincial coroner’s office. According to Mr. Peters, 25 false alarms were called in the community within the third quarter and the director, in collaboration with the fire chief and the RCMP detachment, are looking to develop a bylaw for false alarms in the hopes of eliminating them. Mr. Peters said bylaw officers issued 136 weed notices and regarded that as a relatively high figure. It was attributed to the amount of rain received during the summer of 2016.
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Councillor Tara McMillan provided council with the Valley Bus Society report. Councillor McMillan said the Valley Bus saw 23% less calls this year. She stated the Carbon tax will affect the Valley Bus and will possibly be affected by the raise in minimum wage as well.
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Town Council switched over to in-camera matters.