Council Notes
Drumheller Town Council
Committee of the Whole Meeting
Monday, April 10, 2017

The Heritage, Arts & Culture Committee’s Strategic Plan was outlined by member Rihanne Russell.
They explained their mission statement of promoting Drumheller’s heritage and culture through various platforms and fostering a strong relationship with local artists, musicians, and historians.
This mission statement has so far been carried out through the Arts and Culture grant the committee had received.
They held various activities last year including Cosmocon held at the local library and another program held at the East Coulee School Museum as well as Arts and Culture Days.
The $5,000 allocated this year will go towards activities on Canada Day like the Pow Wow.
Another $10,000 has been given to the committee to organize Canada 150 activities. So far, they have come up with a community barbeque at Rotary park on the 150th day of the year where there will be games, planting trees, and the possibility of a time capsule. They also wanted to help support the passion play golf tournament.
Eight members currently sit on the Heritage, Arts & Culture committee board where they meet roughly once a month.
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Paul Salvatore, Director of Community Services went over the seasonal vendors update as well as finding a better way to approach the Community Assistance Policy.
The council has made the policy a priority, looking to develop a more specific policy based on what has been presented to the town.
The annual request for vendor proposals closed on March 27, 2017 and two proposals were submitted in addition to the proposed pilot project from Community Futures Big Country.
The two vendors included Onkel Ice Cream and Dino Donuts. Councilor Garbutt noted a breakdown in communication on one application.
Community Futures will be meeting with the town on Wednesday, April 12, to discuss the project and whether or not to proceed as initially planned.
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The Community Services Director also outlined all the ‘impressive’ number of connections the town has with local community organizations as well as individual council members and their support on various committees.
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CAO Ray Romanetz provided an overview to council of what happened over the weekend of March 18 and March 19 involving the Rosedale residents affected by the high river levels including the 11 Bridges Campground.
Peace officer Greg Peters has been in close contact with the residents affected and is working towards a 90 day deadline to submit the total Disaster Relief Program application to the Alberta Government.
He has urged each one to keep track of receipts and time spent as well as anything that may pertain to the application.
Peters believes they are making headway and working in their benefit.
Mayor Terry Yemen thanked administration for taking time out of their weekend to help.
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Mayor Terry Yemen mentioned to council of the upcoming local Vimy Ridge event.
The Drumheller Legion is marking the 100th anniversary of Vimy Ridge at the cenotaph in front of the Badlands Community Centre on Sunday, April 9 at 1 p.m.
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This year’s Spring Clean-Up will be from May 1 to May 11, 2017. Director of Infrastructure Services Darryl Drohmerski has recommended Drumhellerites put their unwanted items outside for only one to two weeks before the actual clean-up. No additional changes have been made from the clean-up procedure.
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Councillor Jay Garbutt gave an update on the Canadian Badlands Conference held on March 16 and 17.
He found the weekend ‘very recharging’ and overall beneficial especially when approaching social media.
Canadian Badlands Tourism held a contest during the summer which was highly successful with approximately 3.4 million instagram impressions.
Users were to submit photos via the hashtag #mybadlands in order to win prizes and showcase tourism in the area.
Garbutt also discovered during the conference that a social media star, a person with hundreds of thousands of followers, can be a large influence in funnelling traction into the area if executed properly like an itinerary and local guidance.
The councillor concluded the weekend was a very ‘positive experience’.