Mayor Yemen congratulated the success of this year's Gran Fondo bike ride which was up 145 participants from last year.
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The council received a letter from Minister of Municipal Affairs Danielle Larivee concerning the Gas Tax Fund. This year, $218 million in GTF funding will be provided to Alberta municipalities. Drumheller will be allocated $432,868 towards building and revitalizing local public infrastructure. This was a 2 percent increase over last year.
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The council received a letter from Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation Brian Mason in response to an earlier meeting on Tuesday, March 8. The letter was in regards to a meeting with council, in which, the turn out at the bottom of the hill and the truck route being paved was discussed. Minister Mason anticipates there will be funding in the 2017 budget for the both projects. Regarding the Newcastle Sewer odour as reported in the June 22 edition of The Drumheller Mail, Minister Mason said he was studying the area to see if a lift station can solve the problem. If the study is conclusive, a lift station will be built.
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The Drumheller Chamber of Commerce presented their Semi- Annual update to council. The Chamber have 231 members in good standing, 16 outstanding members. Future projects include the Canada Day parade, the "Jurassic Classic" Golf Tournament in August, Small Business Week in October, and the Jingle Mingle member appreciation event in December. The Information Center has seen a 16.5 per cent increase in visitors from January 1- May 31, 2015, over the same period from 2016. The Chamber of Commerce also highlighted the Mobile Visitor Information Centre which is operational Thursday afternoons at the Royal Tyrrell Museum. Mayor Yemen asked how many dollars had been returned into the community from the World's Largest Dinosaur in total, and Executive Director Heather Bitz answered $585,000.
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Council received a request for decision regarding the Wheatland County Regional Infrastructure Program. Wheatland county has approved the distribution of 0.25 mill of Non Residential Property tax to neighboring municipalities who provide infrastructure services to residents of Wheatland. Dumheller is set to receive $17,974.86 of a total of $750,000 grant distribution annually over 5 years on a specified formula. CAO Ray Romantez suggested to pass the motion and meet with Wheatland for further discussion. Coun. Zariski questioned how the county came up with the formula, CAO Ray Romantez answered saying the town had no input on the agreement. Coun. Garbutt expressed concern on how the specification on money was set to be used. Coun. Lisa Hansen-Zacharuk madethe first motion to accept the proposal, Coun. Shoff seconded. The motion was passed with Coun. Jay Garbutt opposed.
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