On July 24, Drumheller Council was pleased to announce Darryl Drohomerski’s appointment as the Chief Administrative Officer effective October 1, 2017.
    Council was pleased to have significant interest shown in this competition from across Canada with Waterhouse Search consultant, Grant Smith, speaking with each applicant to determine their suitability for the Town of Drumheller CAO.
    From the results of his conversations, eight names were put forward by Mr. Smith for Council to select five candidates to be interviewed. Council interviewed those candidates on June 13 and were unanimous in confirming their choice for the new CAO.
    “After living here for less than a year, I just really loved the community. I thought that based on what I have done in my past and work experience that I have the ability to do the job, I just felt that there was unfinished work in my career that I wanted to look at. It was a great new challenge and I want to make Drumheller an even better community than it is right now,” said Drohomerski.
    Darryl commenced his current role as Infrastructure Services Director with the Town of Drumheller on August 2, 2016, and since that time has proven to be a strong leader, has shown incredible dedication in his responsibilities and has shown extensive insight into the delivery of effective and efficient municipal services.
    “There are definitely people that come from finance backgrounds or protection or community services. Drumheller is focused on infrastructure because we are the largest town in the province so we have a lot of infrastructure to maintain. People who work in infrastructure tend to have a pretty good financial mind and I think I do so that certainly helps as a CAO,” said Drohomerski.
    Previously, Darryl was employed by the City of Winnipeg for 21 years. His responsibilities included managing solid waste services and roles in water distribution and treatment. Darryl brings 25 years of hands-on experience in strategic planning, project management, system engineering strategies and professional experience to the position along with a wide range of skills.
    Mayor Yemen stated, "Council wishes Darryl all the best in his new role of CAO and anticipates a smooth transition because of his working relationship with the current CAO Ray Romanetz over the last year. We look forward to Darryl leading our administration. We believe he will be a tremendous asset to our community in his new role.”
    Mayor Yemen acknowledged the lasting contributions of current CAO Ray Romanetz who will be retiring after 35 years.
    "Ray's contribution to this town is admirable and he is leaving the town in an outstanding position, both financially and in our working relationships, regionally and provincially," said Mayor Yemen.
    Drohomerski concurred with the Mayor's comments and stated, "I am honoured that Mayor Yemen and Council have chosen me to help lead the Town. I have been very fortunate to be at his feet for the last year so I have learned an awful lot from him, but there is so much more knowledge that he has of the community,” Drohomerski said.
    In the new position, Drohomerski plans to run an efficient municipality as well as try to achieve new and ambitious goals for the area.
    “I’d love to see if we can get more business to relocate or to locate into Drumheller. Certainly we have a lot of area but not a lot of homes, we want to be able to look and see the ability to attract more people here whether it be as a retirement or employment important to their career,” said Drohomerski.

The Drumheller Co-op Cardlock on South Railway Avenue has been a hive of activity as it undergoes a complete renovation.

Brent Walker, general manager of the Drumheller Co-op, tells The Mail that the project is progressing on schedule.

“The tanks are all in place, the piping is mostly in place and they are looking at doing backfilling this week,” he said.

“All the curbs are in place, and all the piles for the light standards and everything are concreted in.”

The project is a complete overhaul of the cardlock. This includes new tanks, pumps, infrastructure and increased capacity.

“We had four pumps and now we have seven,” he said. “I believe we had one pump for regular fuel and now I believe you can get it on four pumps. There shouldn’t be any more need to wait there anymore.”

The previous cardlock was installed in 1997. The renovation will bring the card lock up to modern standards and codes. It will also be more visually pleasing

“There will be some new signage, it will definitely be a lot cleaner,” he said.

The project is slated to be completed mid-August.

“We were off schedule by about five days, but I think we have caught the majority of them up,” he said.

“It will be nice to get it all up and running again.”