The fate of Hope College is in the hands of the board of director members for now.

On August 7, Hope College President Jon Ohlhauser stepped down from his role to pursue new opportunities. 

Paul Andrew, Hope College chair for the board of directors, said the College is still planning to open this fall with a registration of about 20 students. 

He explained the college’s enrollment has grown over the past couple of years.

“The first year we had six students. The second year we had 12 and this year we have 20 some, there are 19 already and there are still people making enquiries,” he said.

“Everyone I talk to thinks Hope College is a fabulous idea,” Andrew said. 

Andrew told inSide Drumheller that a community in Nova Scotia with 2,500 permanent residents has a university, which in 2011 had a student population of over 5,100. Andrew believes with community support Hope College can have a population similar to this. 

“This is a town, smaller than Drumheller, that in the 1800’s decided they need something other than fishing, so they started this college. It went to a University and now they have the (option) of degrees in education, law… a whole (bunch) of stuff,” he said.

“This is a community that got behind this post-secondary institution and made it happen. That can happen in Drumheller. Hope College can be the crown jewel of Drumheller if we have the support of the community,” he explained.

Andrew said the future plan for Hope College is to replace Ohlhauser’s position with three part time positions. 

“There are three different distinct areas. There is academic administration which is the paperwork and registrar kind of thing, and then there is the janitorial maintenance kind of person and then there is marketing and recruitment,” he explained. 

Andrew said a “big” way Hope College could make a difference in Drumheller would be to have a student population of 500. 

“Imagine if we had 500 students come here to study and that covers the months when we have no tourists here,” he said, explaining that by having these students here they would be renting apartments, using facilities such as restaurants and grocery stores while living in the town. 

“If we have people in Drumheller with top-notch skills it is going to draw more business into Drumheller,” he said.

Andrew feels that Hope College could be capable of, “continuing education, weekend seminars, (weekly) courses for a month, and part time courses.”

“We just have to have an understanding with the community that we are there for whatever the community deems is necessary, so we need feedback from the community,” Andrew said. 

Hope College board members held a meeting Thursday and have passed a motion that brings exciting changes for the college. No further information was available at press time.

The spray fountain next to the spray park and Dinny the dinosaur will be getting an upgrade. 

This spring it was uncertain if the be-loved fountain would open because of requirements made by Alberta Health Services (AHS) for the water to need to be filtered, but in May all the requirements were completed  in a temporary way and shortly after the fountain opened for the summer. 

During Monday night’s regular council meeting, the fountain was a topic of discussion. At the council meeting on May 4, CAO Ray Romanetz reported that MPE was hired to design improvements to the Spray Fountain to meet the AHS requirements. MPE provided a report that breaks the project into phases. Phase 1 would meet the full requirements AHS has by including the installation of a filtration system and connection to the existing electrical and storm drainage system, which eliminates the need to drain and refill the fountain on a daily basis. 

The cost of phase 1 would be up to $180,000. At the current time, $75,000 has been put into the existing capital budget but an additional $105,000 would be required and would be taken from unbudgeted MSI operating funds received in 2015 and reserves. 

During the months of June, July and August approximately $61,531 was spent on regular and overtime wages, water consumption and additional chemical usage to allow for the fountain to run. By installing this filtration system, that cost would be reduced to $20,000 in 2016. 

Future phases that will incorporate the remaining upgrades to the vault and fountain system will be carried out as required. The estimated total for the project when all phases are complete is $300,000. 

“It is very well used, and it is very popular,” said Drumheller Mayor Terry Yemen. “When it went down in the spring there was a cry that we need the fountain. It is a lot of money to have a fountain. When I, just personally looked at it as a three to five year commitment of $300,000 for a fountain, I couldn’t support that, but council has and we will honour that decision and move it forward, but it is a lot of money to have a fountain.”

“My rational is, it is great to have the fountain for the people that are here, but I don’t think there is anyone from Edmonton that gets up and says, ‘lets go to Drumheller to the fountain’. They are coming to Drumheller for other reasons,” Yemen said.