Council Overview
Information from Drumheller Town
Regular Council Meeting
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Council approved minutes for Special Council meetings taking place on March 19, March 23, March 26, and April 2 and the minutes from its Regular Council Meeting from March 30.
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Council heard an update from the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC).
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Safety Section Chief Brent Sands presented on the work of the Safety Section. The Emergency Operations Centre has been cognizant of safety, including travel, working on-site, and walking hazards. Most paramount is physical distancing, which the EOC has been diligently practicing, including staff travelling with one occupant per vehicle as well as the proper use of personal protection equipment, hygiene, and general safe work practices.
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Greg Storch, Operations Section Chief provided an update on the work of the Operations Section. It has completed an IT security report. Operations have been working with Valley Bus for transportation. It has procured refrigeration vans for storage. Spring Cleanup is underway and to date, the landfill has received 15.32 tonnes of refuse, 2.24 tonnes of metal. FCSS has submitted grant applications for community programs and organizations. Installation of a pump at the 5th Street Lift Station has been completed. Crews are out each day cleaning in various areas, and they have split crews into smaller units to create better physical distancing. Street sweeping is underway and will be working with the Salvation Army on a clean plan.
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Logistic Section Chief, Reg Bennett, presented on the work of the Logistics Section. They have delivered additional sneeze guards to the Sunshine Lodge, Hill View Lodge, and the Drumheller Health Centre, an additional refrigerator has been delivered to the Salvation Army courtesy of Drumheller Minor Hockey. The section continues to work on procuring supplies, including personal protective equipment. Companies wishing to get sneeze guards can reach out to the EOC.
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Planning Section Chief, Dave Brett presented on the progress of his section. This includes establishing a facility, systems, program status and list for the Town of Drumheller and has gained greater insight into the non-profit and charitable organizations in Drumheller. They are in the process of streamlining programs and procedures for town activities. He says the people and staff of the Town of Drumheller have stood up to organize themselves in a community effort to respond to this crisis. The Planning Section has also created a Food Bank plan and staff daycare support. Its objectives going forward include the capital budget, the 2020 flood plan, out of town construction crew plan, and a private campground plan.
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Finance Section Chief, Elin Gwinner provided an update on the work of her section. She has been working on invoicing and gathering information for financial analysis and forecasting. This is on top of the day to day operations and year-end. Her section has developed paperless timesheets and is working on expanding this.
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Michelle Tetrault, information officer for Emergency Management updated council on the work of her section. She expressed her thanks to media partners for supporting the dissemination of their messages. Each day staff is updated via email and holds a weekly teleconference. This week they began their Salvation Army Food Bank campaign, and are preparing a Garage Sale FAQ. They have instigated the Kick Out the COVID-19 sticker campaign and contest with Boston Pizza, and is continuing to update a FAQ page on the website. They are working with Travel Drumheller on a stay at home campaign and are communicating with the private campgrounds. They launched a new video with the Economic recovery taskforce, which was released this week.
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Director of Protective Services Greg Peters presented CAO Darryl Drohomerski the Incident Command Chief Vest, as Darwin Durnie will be out of the community for a few days.
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Dr. Rithesh Ram updated the community on the COIVD-19 state in Alberta and Canada. He said federal and provincial medical health officers have indicated we are in it for the long haul. As of the time of the meeting, there are zero cases in Drumheller, and he says it can be attributed this to the work on the team dealing with the local response.
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CAO Drohomerski praised the work of the team in the last 30 days since the EOC was set up. He noted this is a marathon, not a sprint and they are going to be in it for a while.
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Council approved a motion to extend its State of Local Emergency to Tuesday, April 21, to tie it to a regular council meeting Drohomerski noted the province is working on passing legislation to allow this declaration to be put in place for 90 days.
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Council passed first reading of Bylaw 09.20 to establish a COVID-19 Financial Special Taskforce. This will be comprised of two members of council, two staff members, two members of the Drumheller Resiliency and Flood Mitigation Office, two members of the business community and two members of the general public.
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