Council Overview
Information from Drumheller Town
Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Monday, October 7, 2019

Council held a review of strategic plan work priorities.
Council heard an update from the Director of Corporate Services, Barb Miller, on the Infrastructure Master Plan Tangible Capital Assets. She says the town has been completing an inventory and creating a database of town assets, with an expected timeline to finish the project in 1.5-2 years. The master plan will be required to receive federal grant funding in the future.
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Council heard an update on the Trail System gaps from Director of Infrastructure, Dave Brett. Mr. Brett presented an initial policy outline to identify trail gaps in the town’s walking trail system. Initial data and information has been collected and is being used to create a draft policy to govern how the town’s trails are managed and maintained. He said more information should be brought to council this winter, which will show cost estimates and levels of service. Councillor Tom Zariski suggested taking into account unmarked trails people use that may not be a part of the existing inventory.
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Greg Peters, Director of Protective Services, updated council on the Hoodoo Pay and Play parking system, which was introduced this summer to collect fees from visitors to offset infrastructure maintenance costs there. He said the program generated over $27,000 in net revenue, above the wages of two employees and other related costs. Over 41,000 cars visited the site over the summer during the pilot program. Discussions will be held in the future to see where to use the money at the site and whether to bring the program back next summer.
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Council opened discussions with communications officer Julia Fielding regarding a proposed town smartphone app. Council heard pitches from a few software developers last month to create an app to be used for communicating with the public. She said she looked at other communities of considerable size and found the apps had extremely low download numbers compared to each respective city’s population. It was noted the app would allow for better reporting from residents and would likely streamline work projects and complaint processing.
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Economic Development Manager Sean Wallace said a patio policy for businesses including restaurants. Update has been completed and will be brought to next week’s council meeting.
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Complete minutes from council meetings can be found at
www.dinosaurvalley.com once they have been adopted.

Council Notes of Regular Meeting of Tuesday, September 3
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Mayor Heather Colberg was not present and deputy mayor Jay Garbutt assumed Mayor Colberg’s role.
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Council unanimously approved a request for decision to approve the purchase of chemical for the Aquaplex and water/ wastewater treatment plants. Two companies submitted eligible quotes and infrastructure services director Dave Brett said awarding three separate purchase orders, for three years would be the most cost efficient and provide protection market changes. Klearwater would provide four products for $485,583 and ClearTech would provide a total of 13 products for the water treatment plants and 3 products for the Aquaplex for a total of $310,061, for a total of $795,644 (estimated annual value of $265,214). Brett said the items will be ordered on a per needed basis by facility employees. Director Brett said he estimated $140,000 would be saved by ordering the chemical on a three year term, compared to on an annual basis as had been done in the past.
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Director of Protective and Emergency Services Greg Peters presented council with information regarding intrusion alarm policy changes by the Alberta RCMP. Police said early last year they would no longer dispatch members to unverified or single-zone alarm warnings because of a drain on working hours and costs. He said so far this year Drumheller RCMP responded to 58 alarm calls, but only three alarms eventually led to a police investigation. In 2018, there were only 8 genuine alarm calls out of 192 total calls. Councillor Fred Makowecki said he believed council should write a letter to the RCMP saying they were disappointed to not have been consulted, and the town should communicate the change to the public. Director Peters said the RCMP had not consulted with municipalities province wide. Chief Administrative Officer Darryl Drohomerski said the intention of this report was to communicate the change to the public. Councillor Tom Zariski said his involvement with community enforcement showed an ongoing issue of officer overtime for the Drumheller RCMP detachment, and said it is an unfortunate but logical step for the RCMP. Councillor Kristyne DeMott said she worries this may make people more likely to take police matters into their own hands. Councillor Garbutt said this is an RCMP decision so he believes the RCMP should be responsible to communicate this. Communications Officer Julia Fielding said an article is ready to be posted online and on the The Drumheller Mail’s town page.