Council Overview
Information from Drumheller Town Council Regular Council Meeting Monday, June 19, 2023
Drumheller Mayor Heather Colberg opened the meeting and made some opening announcements. Councillor Lisa Hansen-Zacharuck was sworn in as Deputy Mayor for the months of July and August; Councillor Patrick Kolafa acknowledged the raising of the Treaty 7 flag in recognition of National Indigenous Peoples Day on Wednesday, June 21.
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Council approved a request to extend the term of the Rails to Trails fundraising task force until June 2025. This will allow the committee to continue fundraising for the CN Rails to Trails project; to date the task force has raised over $257,000 n cash and in-kind donations to develop the Rails to Trails network using former CN Rail right of ways.
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Council approved the appointment of Dune Sataere to the Drumheller Public Library Board for a three-year term ending June 2026.
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Flood mitigation project director Deighen Blakely presented council with a request to approve scope changes to the downtown berm project. SweetTech Engineering Consultants were previously awarded the contract for design of the downtown berm in January 2021 and have since undertaken preliminary detailed design. Change of scope will include public engagement, on-site engineering inspections, daily reports, along with bird and wildlife sweeps and vibration monitoring. The scope change will involve a budget change of $709,150 excluding GST.
Council approved the scope change.
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Ms. Blakely also presented council with proposed detours and closures for downtown berm construction around the Aquaplex and Drumheller Memorial Arena. Work is anticipated to begin in July which requires necessary temporary closures required.
Riverside Drive will be closed between 4 Avenue East and 3 Street East between mid-August until the end of September for berm construction; there will also be a full closure of the access road to the Badlands Community Facility (BCF), east of the Riverside building, between July and November. A detour will be in place using Railway Avenue, Centre Street, and 6 Street East. Construction will also impact trails throughout Centennial Park and a detour route will be in effect along the south sidewalk on Riverside Drive.
Parking will also be impacted to allow the contractor to bring hauled material to the downtown berm footprint in Centennial Park. The Rotary Spray Park will be closed beginning in September; the Aquaplex will also be closed for a four week period during this time. Parking along the north and west sides of the Visitor Information Centre will be restricted and a haul route will be in effect; alternate parking will be available.
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CAO Drohomerski presented council with second and third reading of the Riverside Drive East Road Closure Bylaw 05.22; he explained this bylaw received first reading in March 2022 and a public hearing regarding the proposed road closure bylaw was held in April 2022. At the time there were several options being considered for Riverside Drive East, including a full, permanent road closure. Following the public hearing, information was sent to Alberta Transportation, and a response was received at the end of May this year.
Since this was initially brought forward to council some changes have been made, including changing the scope of change from the roadway to the road right of way only, which will allow Riverside Drive East to remain open to two lane traffic, though there will be some changes including installation of a retaining wall.
Council gave second and third reading to the amended Road Closure Bylaw 05.22 as presented.
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CAO Drohomerski also presented Rosedale Road Closure Bylaw 06.22; similar to Bylaw 05.22, council gave first reading of this bylaw in April 2022, a public hearing held in May 2022, and response from Alberta Transportation was received at the end of May this year. This is to close an undeveloped portion of a road allowance.
Council gave second and third reading to the Road Closure Bylaw 06.22 as presented.
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Community Development and Social Planning (CDSP) coordinator Heather Carlson presented council with the Welcoming and Inclusive Communities initiative.
Council approved establishing a Welcoming and Inclusive Committee and conduct a Measuring Inclusion Tool of Municipal Governments survey, which will be repeated biannually to guide the progress of the initiative; and also tabled signing the Declaration to Join the Coalition of Inclusive Municipalities in order to receive more information and determine potential staffing implications.
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Director of Emergency and Protective Services Greg Peters presented council with the third reading of Traffic Bylaw 10.22. First and second reading were given in 2022 and there has since been revisions based on public consultation and engagement, and the recently approved Paid Parking program.
Council gave third reading to the amended Traffic Bylaw, with one opposed.
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Director of Infrastructure Services Dave Brett presented council with a request to increase the annual in-kind contribution funding allocation for the Community Assistance Grant. A total of $30,000 was allocated in 2023 for grant funds available for in-kind work. As of June 13 there have been four in-kind requests submitted to the Town totalling $67,174. It is being requested to increase the budget to allow for approval of all four received requests.
Council approved the request to increase the in-kind contribution funding budget.
Complete minutes from council meetings can be found on
www.drumheller.ca once they have been adopted.
