Drumheller Town Council Meetings | DrumhellerMail - Page #14
06022023Fri
Last updateFri, 02 Jun 2023 7am

Council Notes from Committee of the Whole Meeting Monday, February 14, 2022

TownofDrumhellerCrest

Council Overview
Information from Drumheller Town Council
Committee of the Whole Meeting
Monday, February 14, 2022

Mayor Heather Colberg opened the Committee of the Whole meeting.
***
Council members presented the minutes from their various committee and board meetings for approval, including the Drumheller Public Library Board and Drumheller Housing Administration.
***
STARS senior municipal liaison Glenda Farnden provided the Committee of the Whole with an update on the foundation’s efforts. The foundation has identified operational and funding deficiencies throughout the pandemic. To help support fundraising efforts, the foundation continued to hold the STARS Lottery in 2021, which sold out, and the 2022 STARS Lottery is underway.
The mission rate continues to increase year over year, and STARS carries out an average of 21 missions per year in the Drumheller area, representing over $150,000 in annual service value. In 2021, there were a total of 31 missions for critical transfers and scene calls for the Drumheller area.
***
Drumheller and District Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Heather Bitz and President Martina Morrison provided the Committee with an update. The Chamber is governed by a volunteer board of directors; currently, there are 11 board members from various local businesses, along with Town appointed member, Councillor Lisa Hansen-Zacharuk. The Chamber registered 23 new members in 2021 and ended the year with 243 members; in 2020 they finished the year with 242 members.
The Chamber was responsible for administering the Building Enhancement Grant program, previously the Storefront Enhancement Grant and a total of $35,000 in funds were made available through the Chamber, Town, and Community Futures Big Country to support businesses enhancing and modernizing building exteriors or interiors. 10 business projects were supported in 2021; applications for the 2022 program, which has some $40,000 in funding available, closed February 15.
***
Drumheller and District Seniors Foundation (DDSF) Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Glenda Youngberg provided an update on the foundation. DDSF serves the Town of Drumheller, and Starland County in the villages of Morrin, Munson, and Delia. Drumheller and the cooperative municipalities fund DDSF through requisitions, and some 50 per cent of these requisitions primarily help with debt repayment for the remodelling of Sunshine Lodge in 2003 and construction of Hillview Lodge in 2008; the Sunshine Lodge renovation loan was paid off in August 2021 and the Hillview loan is expected to be paid off by August 2023. The foundation will use part of the requisitions towards the new Sunshine Lodge remodel loan to complete upgrades at Sunshine Lodge to accommodate higher levels of supportive living. This project is still in the pre-construction stage.
***
The Committee was presented with a Strategic Priorities briefing update by the various departments.
***
Strategic Priorities reports will be printed in the Wednesday, February 23 edition of The Drumheller Mail.

Complete minutes from council meetings can be found on
www.drumheller.ca once they have been adopted.


Council Notes from Committee of the Regular Meeting Monday, February 7, 2022

TownofDrumhellerCrest

Council Overview
Information from Drumheller Town Council Regular Council Meeting
Monday, February 7, 2022

Mayor Heather Colberg opened the regular council meeting and announced there are several upcoming events.
There is a donation drive to support poverty reduction on February 14 between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. at Canadian Tire; donations will support the Humane Society, Colton’s Place, Salvation Army, among others.
The Community Development and Social Planning department are hosting Family day Unplugged on February 21. Mayor Colberg also thanked those sponsoring the Dry February in support of cancer awareness.
***
Councillor Patrick Kolafa acknowledged February is Black History Month; there will be a Facebook Live event to celebrate Black History Month on February 17 at 5 p.m. with performances and tributes. More information is available on the Town of Drumheller’s social media pages
***
The Flood Mitigation Community Advisory Committee (CAC) presented council with an update to the committee’s activity since it was developed September 30, 2021. CAC’s purpose is to work with the Drumheller Resiliency and Flood Mitigation Office (DRFMO) to learn and understand the Flood Mitigation program and the scope of the project to help guide and enhance engagement between the Town, DRFMO, and the public.
CAC is completely supportive of the Flood Mitigation program. They hold weekly meetings to review input from residents and communication responses, and submit questions to the Alchemy Communications team or DRFMO; members have also listened to community concerns and focused questions directly to the DRMFO, helped direct input from various community engagement sessions, prepared questions and answers for these sessions, and conducted research while working with the community.
***
Director of Protective Services Greg Peters brought the amended Remedial Properties and Derelict Properties policy which was originally presented at the January 24 council meeting. Amendments address redundant wording in the original policy and enhance clarity.
Council adopted the policy as presented.
***
Council adjourned to closed session to discuss roadways information Flood Mitigation local public confidence.

Complete minutes from council meetings can be found on
www.drumheller.ca once they have been adopted.

Council Notes from Committee of the Regular Meeting Monday, January 24, 2022

TownofDrumhellerCrest

Council Overview
Information from Drumheller Town Regular Council Meeting
Monday, January 24, 2022

Mayor Heather Colberg opened the meeting and thanked the public for providing input with the Downtown Dike D engagement.
She noted council has been receiving letters from concerned citizens about Alberta Health Services ambulance shortages and shared there is a local standing committee involved who are working to address this issue; those interested in writing a letter can contact Bob Sheddy.
***
Director of Corporate Financial Services Mauricio Reyes presented 2022 Capital Budget and 10-year Capital Plan; this was previously presented during the Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, January 17 and is being brought forward for consideration and approval.
There is a total of 43 capital projects proposed in the 2022 Capital Budget totalling $10.7 million to maintain or enhance current service levels. Some of these projects will be completed in coordination with Flood Mitigation projects, though are not part of the Flood Mitigation program.
Council adopted the 2022 Capital Budget and 10-year Capital Plan as presented.
***
Mr. Reyes presented the Provincial Education Requisition Credit (PERC); this is a provincial tax credit the Town applied for on January 13 due to uncollected taxes on which the Education Requisition was already paid to the province. Along with the PERC, the Town has also applied to claim the uncollected tax amounts as a separate application. These required approval from council.
***
Flood Mitigation project director Deighen Blakely presented an updated Land Acquisition Policy to council and requested direction as the Flood Mitigation Office is still pending correspondence from the province on the proposed changes.
This was originally brought before council for approval in January 2020 and encompasses the buyout of properties for flood mitigation works or properties in the flood plain. The policy was originally two separate documents-policy and procedure-and has been reduced to one document to provide additional clarity.
Some job titles within the original document, such as the Chief Resiliency and Flood Mitigation Officer, required updating to reflect the recent change in the Flood Mitigation Office’s management team.
To date, some $5.4 million has been spent of the allotted $20 million grant for land acquisitions to the end of October 2021-this includes some $4.7 million in purchasing a total of 11 properties and an additional $668,000 on administrative fees for legal, appraisal, and land agent fees.
Council noted within this policy both the Government of Canada and the Alberta Government have made contingencies regarding how properties acquired under the flood mitigation program can be used-as Environmental Reserve or as natural infrastructure such as dikes; lands acquired cannot be used to build other residential buildings, campgrounds, or unnatural infrastructure like walls, bridges, or concrete barriers.
It was also noted properties acquired by the flood mitigation program are bought out at the most recent appraisal year at the higher of the appraised or assessed value; landowners can also hire their own appraiser.
Ms. Blakely will bring forward a Request for Decision before council in February.
***
Director of Protective Services Greg Peters presented council with the Remedial Properties and Derelict Buildings policy. This policy works in conjunction with the Community Standards Bylaw and outlines the steps the Town can undertake to address derelict buildings and remedial properties in the valley.
***
Council was presented with the fourth-quarter strategic priorities from the various departments including CAO Darryl Drohomerski, Director of Infrastructure Services Dave Brett, manager of Recreation, Arts, and Culture Darren Goldthorpe, and Drumheller RCMP Staff Sergeant Ed Bourque.
Communications officer Erica Crocker was unavailable and will present her Q4 reports to council at the next council meeting.
***
Council moved to a closed session to receive advice from officials regarding Flood Mitigation activities and adjourned the meeting.

Complete minutes from council meetings can be found on www.drumheller.ca once they have been adopted.


The Drumheller Mail encourages commenting on our stories but due to our harassment policy we must remove any comments that are offensive, or don’t meet the guidelines of our commenting policy.