Council Overview
Information from Drumheller Town Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Monday, June 12, 2023
Drumheller Mayor Heather Colberg opened the meeting and made some opening announcements. She congratulated Celebration of Excellence winners (see Page 3).
Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Darryl Drohomerski announced there will be a significant detour in place along Highway 575/South Railway Avenue beginning on Thursday, June 15 for water main work over an estimated two-week period. (see Page 7).
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CAO Drohomerski presented the committee with an update on the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) in Alberta. A motion was passed by the provincial government in fall 2022 which will move the onus of the cost and liability of recycling from end users, such as municipalities and taxpayers, onto the producer. This will regulate single-use products, packaging, packaging-like products, paper products, and hazardous and special products.
Producers will need to provide a collection and management plan by April 2024 and systems must be operational by April 2025; producers must be registered with the Alberta Recycling Management Authority (ARMA), which will provide oversight of the new EPR systems, and producers are responsible to comply with regulation.
As a municipality, the Town of Drumheller is a key stakeholder in the system and can negotiate with producers to play service delivery role on a contract basis or stay removed from program operations which are provided by outside service providers.
Councillor Patrick Kolafa explained, by October 2026, the Town will be mandated to provide recycling services to dwellings, which will provide curbside collection every two weeks at minimum to single-family dwellings currently receiving curbside recycling.
The Drumheller and District Solid Waste Association (DDSWA), of which CAO Drohomerski and Councillor Kolafa are members of the board, is in the process of making a motion to become a processor and a potential collector of material in the future.
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Director of Infrastructure Services Dave Brett presented a briefing note on the digital procurement platform implementation. Traditionally, bids have been received by the Town through a hard copy; over COVID modifications were made to allow electronic submissions by email.
Mr. Brett explained neither method aligns with current industry practices, and there have been issues with email size restrictions, firewalls, and internet connectivity problems. He noted there have also been substantial increases in the number of bid opportunities over recent years with a total of 32 bid opportunities in 2020, and an expected 75 bid opportunities in 2023 based on approved budgets and needs.
Research was conducted into the purchase of a digital procurement platform to help alleviate some of the workload associated with future bid opportunities, and it was determined Bids&tenders was the best option due to low cost and ease of use. Bids&tenders has also become the industry standard for municipalities and engineering companies and will help streamline the bidding process. Administration approved the purchase of Bids&tenders in February 2023 and it is anticipated the system will go live on June 20 with public communications taking place prior to and after the launch.
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Mr. Brett presented an update on the CN Rails to Trails project. He noted new trail development for this year is focused between 5th Street East near Liquorland to Highway 9/56 near FastGas. The pathway will be connected to the existing intersection to provide a safe pedestrian crossing, and the Plaza Stop will also be a feature at the west end of this project. This is planned for 2024.
Alberta Transportation has agreed to a cost sharing model for required pedestrian crossing upgrades at the 5th Street East and Highway 9/56 intersections and will see crossings on the north and east side of the intersection.
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Council adjourned to a closed session to discuss advice from officials.
Complete minutes from council meetings can be found on
www.drumheller.ca once they have been adopted.
