Town of Drumheller mayor and council have received a response from Minister of Municipal Affairs Ric McIver regarding a petition requesting an inspection of the town’s flood mitigation program.
The Mail reported in May 2021 a group of concerned citizens had launched a petition requesting Municipal Affairs inspect the program over concerns about transparency, contract tendering, and appropriate spending of federal and provincial grant money; the town invited Municipal Affairs to review the program “in the spirit of full transparency” in June 2021, and in July an official was appointed by the Ministry to determine the sufficiency of the petition.
“In recognition of council’s actions to date, as well as acknowledging the results of the October 2021 general election, I will not be ordering an inspection at this time,” states the letter from Minister McIver dated Friday, November 12.
“Some inconsistencies” were noted regarding communication and transparency in the project, however, these concerns were “not of sufficient severity to warrant an inspection,” and the town has taken steps to improve project management and communications, including bringing in a new project manager and communications team.
Had Municipal Affairs decided to pursue the investigation, it is estimated it would have cost the town some $60,000 to $70,000, not including municipal time and resources spent.
While the town will not have to foot the cost of a full investigation, the process has not come without a cost.
“We did expend time and financial resources to get to this point,” Drumheller Chief Administrative Officer Darryl Drohomerski tells the Mail.
He estimates there was a cost of some $5,000 to $10,000 to the municipality in time and resources working with the communications team and project management.
