Work is near completion on the town’s asset management system and officials say the digital catalogue allows for better management of their assets, while giving Drumheller a step up in securing provincial funding.
The system unifies all the town’s assets across different departments into one searchable, user-friendly program for managing and evaluating infrastructure assets such as transportation, storm water, facilities, and equipment. An individual asset’s origin, lifespan, condition, cost, and other information will be on a file that is compatible across different departments and even other municipalities.
“From an administrative point of view, and a political one, too, it’s an excellent document,” said Mayor Terry Yemen.
The asset management system will provide a tool to council to set service expectations as well as provide transparency on decision making to the public.
“It will help to communicate to the public that the assets are managed to the best of council’s ability under the current constraints, as well as raise the community’s awareness as to what the real costs are for maintaining service standards,” said CAO Ray Romanetz.
Romanetz said the system places emphasis on determining the true cost of the town’s existing infrastructure, as well as understanding the level of effort required to maintain a reasonable level of service.
The system will be available to the public via the town’s website, www.dinosaurvalley.com, once the final version has been approved by council in the coming month. Council has already received versions of the system but has been given time to evaluate it.
The Asset Management Plan was initiated by a mandate from the federal government to prepare asset management plans to qualify for funding. The town received a grant of $250,000 from the province’s Municipal Sustainability Initiative fund, and Stantec Inc. started work on the program last year.
“From our information, we’re ahead of a lot of other municipalities, who have been sitting on their project,” said Yemen.
“It’s a huge undertaking.”
