Council Overview
Information from Drumheller Town Council
Regular Council Meeting
Monday, September 13
Mayor Colberg congratulated the organizers of the Dinosaur Half Marathon on a successful event and thanked residents who participated in the Kick It to the Curb and the ongoing Community Clean-Up. She reminded listeners of the upcoming Rotary White Elephant sale on Saturday, October 2.
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Mayor Colberg announced Municipal Affairs is going to move forward with the Flood Mitigation and Resiliency program petition. Municipal Affairs will gather more information, and Mayor and Council will speak with Municipal Affairs representatives this week. Depending on how far the petition and investigation goes, this could have a financial impact of some $60,000 to $70,000 on the municipality to complete the review if Municipal Affairs decides to move forward.
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ATCO Electric Drumheller supervisor of operations Shahedul Amin gave a two-part presentation to council. The first was to discuss converting streetlights from non-invested to invested. Mr. Amin explained non-invested streetlights the customer (municipality) is responsible for the cost of installation, replacement, and maintenance; ATCO is responsible for the full cost of replacement and maintenance of invested streetlights. Streetlights are owned by ATCO and the community pays distribution charges for the lights regardless of invested or non-invested status.
There are 1,105 streetlights in Drumheller, of which 740 are non-invested, and 349 are invested. There are also 16 private streetlights and 12 of these are currently invested. Mr. Amin shared if the Town were to convert to invested streetlights there would be an increase of approximately $9,600 per month in distribution fees, though it is estimated the Town would save some $4.5 million in future replacement costs and would also receive an investment of $675,000.
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In the second presentation Mr. Amin shared the option to change invested streetlights to LED through the LED Conversion Multiplier (LCM). ATCO has worked with the Alberta utilities Commission (AUC) to offer the LCM program to provide municipalities with the opportunity to do a full-scale conversion to LED without large upfront costs.
The program is only applicable to invested, public streetlights; it is not available for private lighting streetlights, regardless of whether they are invested or non-invested. AUC approval is also required prior to moving ahead.
The LED multiplier rate is currently 9.4 per cent and, once the program ends, the invested streetlight rate will be adjusted to reflect any remaining capital costs and maintenance savings for converted lights. Mr. Amin noted the program is anticipated to end in the next two to three years.
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Council passed third reading of Bylaw 18.21 amending Land Use Bylaw 2021-A. Amendments include an addition to Section 11 regarding signage on shipping containers, variable setbacks based on posted speed limits, and removal of the condition billboards cannot have variable messages or moving, rotating parts.
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Council passed first and second reading of Bylaw 04.21 Council and Committee Meeting Procedures. Amendments concentrate on council and council committee meeting expectations and also adds information regarding electronic meetings. Council boards and committees are also further defined. Some information has been removed regarding council conduct and is intented to be included in a future update to Bylaw 08.18 Councillor Code of Conduct.
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Director of Infrastructure Services Dave Brett presented council with an update on the Snow Removal and Ice Control Strategy. Mr. Brett asked for clarification on maintaining snow and ice removal for specific sidewalks within the communities before a final draft is brought before council.
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Director of Emergency and Protective Services Greg Peters provided a COVID-19 update. As of Monday, September 13 there are 43 cases in the Town of Drumheller. Mr. Peters noted since the new provincial mandates have gone into effect, bylaw has received more violation calls and are encountering more resistance. Mr. Peters has been in discussion with Drumheller RCMP Staff Sergeant Ed Bourque regarding this situation.
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Council adjourned to closed session to discuss two agenda items-Emergency Department Review and Drumheller Mitigation Project Manager.
Complete minutes from council meetings can be found on
www.drumheller.ca once they have been adopted.
