News | DrumhellerMail

Tenders released for community facility

    Tenders for the Badlands Community Facility have been released and in about a year and a half, Drumheller will have a community and wellness/ fitness centre to be proud of for generations.
    Mayor Bryce Nimmo told The Mail the tenders for the Badlands Community Facility were released on Friday, May 7. This means the project documents are available to interested contractors to formulate a bid on building the first stage of the facility.
    This includes the community centre, field house, fitness centre and library.
    “It is a good news story,” said Nimmo.
    “We feel that by getting it out at this time we hope to benefit from what seems to be lower bidding happening in the province. Things have slowed down and people are looking for work, and the earlier in the year we release it, the better chance you have for more people bidding on it.”
    The tender packages are available to contractors at the Town of Drumheller office, and are listed on the Province’s Alberta Purchasing Connection (APC) web portal.
    Nimmo said architect Graham Edmonds Cartier has indicated a number of contractors have shown interest. While the documents were only made available to contractors on Friday, by Monday morning, Clark Builders out of Calgary is already listed as an interested contractor on the APC web site.
    Chair of the Badlands Community Association Tony Lacher is excited the tenders are out, and is confident the bids will be competitive.
    “We are finally out of the chute,” said Lacher. “What will tell the story is where the bid comes in, we are hoping to be down in our costing.”
    “We are hoping to get a lot of interest because that will really drive the pricing.”
    He said they hope to see progress on the site by next month. The fact that some of the groundwork was completed last fall, building up the site, will help speed up the project. Lacher also said soft work such as utility routing has already begun. They have a goal to have substantial completion by March of next year followed by a summer opening.
    He explains to qualify for one of the grants for which it has received approval, a substantial amount of the project needs to be completed within a 24 month window of the initial grant approval.
    The first phase of the project includes a field house with dividable gymnasium space that can accommodate everything from indoor soccer and lacrosse to basketball and volleyball. There will also be a fitness centre and studio, a running track, library and gallery space. There will also be ample space for a banquet room that can accommodate 500 people as well as meeting rooms.
    “This is the first part of our overhaul of the area which will include in the future, a second sheet of ice and a curling rink,” said Nimmo.
    The closing date for bids is June 1.

Drumheller physiotherapist to volunteer in Zambia

    When Michelle Pieké moved to Drumheller to work as a physiotherapist at the Drumheller Health Centre, she probably didn’t think that three years or so later, her vocation would take her to Zambia for a 10 week mission as a volunteer.
    “This is something I had been thinking about for a while, and last summer, I decided to finally really look into it and make it happen,” said Pieké.
    A friend of hers told Pieké about her experience in Zambia doing a similar mission as a nursing student through an organization called Serving in Mission (SIM). Although she has never been there, Pieké had Africa in mind for her trip, and listening to her friend’s stories, decided on Zambia.
    Pieké went through the application process and was accepted in the program, and is hoping to fly off on June 7, 2010.
    She needs to raise the entire funds before being in a position to book the flight and she is just over half way there.
    To help make her dream a reality, the Church of The Nazarene and St Magloire’s Anglican Church are hosting a benefit supper and musical on Friday, May 14 at the Nazarene Church. The evening will start at 5:30 p.m. with a spaghetti/western supper and musical entertainment Including LaVerne Erickson and Kirby and Kelcy Travis to name a few. Tickets can be purchased at the door.
    With help from the community, she is hoping to volunteer her services at a rural hospital in Zambia for 10 weeks.
    There, her skills will be used to deal with a mixture of patients, from people suffering with leprosy, amputees to kids with cerebral palsy.
    “I have a lot of experience working with kids with cerebral palsy. I worked at an Easter Seals Camp for five summers so that’s an area I have a passion in. I don’t see much of the other cases, but it’s always exciting to see new things,” Pieké told The Drumheller Mail.
    She will receive cultural and language education when she arrives but most of the training will be on the job.
    The rural hospital she will be based at covers a catchment area of 100,000, but she heard locals might have to walk up to five days to get to the hospital, so she is unsure the exact size of the hospital but the experience will be challenging.
    “The hospital here has been very good at letting me have the time off to do this,” said Pieké . “My colleagues are a little bit jealous and disappointed that I am not going to be here, but they are very supportive!”

And the Winner is… Colberg wins Citizen of the Year

    The results are, in and Heather Colberg has been named Drumheller's 2010 Citizen of the Year.
    The annual awards and gala, hosted by the Drumheller Rotary Club on Saturday, May 8 at Rosedale Hall, was a celebration of Drumheller residents taking pride in their community. Along with Colberg, Melanie Monaco was named Most Courteous Employee.
    “It’s a honour the Rotary Club does this for people,” Colberg said. “I am honoured to receive it.’
    Colberg is involved in the community would be an understatement. She has always been visible helping within the community. As a mother, she has been involved with a number of sports teams in the valley including the Drumheller Dragons and currently she coaches a St. Anthony’s volleyball team. She has also supported campaigns for the Morgan Jayne Project.
    About five years ago she took over the annual food drive in Drumheller to support the food bank. She rose to the challenge.
    The food drive has flourished. Before it was a week long endeavour, now dozens of volunteers come out for the event and within an hour the entire Town of Drumheller and some outlying communities have been canvassed and food has been collected. Last year she spearheaded a mid year food drive that now helps the Salvation Army replenish the stock of food.
    Lieutenant Rachel Sheils of The Salvation Army nominated Colberg. She said the two major food drives stocks up to 70 per cent of the food bank’s supplies. Without Colberg, Sheils said the food bank wouldn’t be able to function.
    Sheils said, “Her (Colberg’s) motto is ‘be grateful of what you have, and give back what you can.’”
    Colberg is gracious in her acceptance of the award, and honoured to be in the presence of her fellow nominee Rita Pallesen.
    “Rita’s credentials are very impressive. She has done a lot, and committed a lot of hours and helped many people, so I was really surprised (to receive it),” she said.
    She humbly laughs when telling The Mail, it was because she is “loud and noisy,” in her organizational skill and style.
    “I believe that I wouldn’t be able to do this without friends, family and community,” she said.

    Colberg was not the only one celebrated at the annual event last Saturday. Melanie Monaco of ATB in Drumheller was the recipient of the Most Courteous Employee award. Leigh Wonnacott was the runner up.
    Monaco was nominated by Drumheller resident Dorothy Bergos, and she presented the award.
    Bergos joked that she never forgave the ATB for moving across the tracks to its present location, but the quality of service has remained, and to her that is in a large part because of Monaco
    “She is so helpful,” said Bergos. “She is helpful when it comes to tax time, she helps us when we are going on a trip or when we need a money order. She is very knowledgeable, very accommodating and always happy.”
    She also had kudos for the ATB in general. Bergos told The Mail one addition to the branch she is very happy about is simply the small seating area at the entrance. As she and her husband have mobility issues, this small gesture has made a difference in her banking experience.
    “I was very happy to nominate her and even happier that she won,” said Bergos. “Her helpfulness is what we appreciate.”
    Last year’s Citizen of the Year was Olga Rowse, and the Most Courteous employee was Kellie Smith.

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