The City of Red Deer is showing its commitment to reducing, reusing and recycling by selling some still viable equipment from the G.H. Dawe Centre Arena demolition to other communities to avoid landfilling it.
This was of about 130 city innovations that were shared Monday with city council.
A report also indicated that the city managed to reduce costs by outfitting new areas of the G.H. Dawe Community Centre with furnishings from the closure of some spaces in the Professional Building. This is also keeping some usable furnishings out of the dump.
Other cost-savings were achieved by putting some documents, notices and application process online and using sea cans for the storage of property found by, or turned into the Municipal Policing Service. This reduces the cost of storage rental units.
On the list of various innovations were retrofits on mechanical and electrical systems on City Hall and the Civic Yards buildings to achieve less energy use and less maintenance. These include changing lights to LED lower energy bulbs in buildings and parking lots.
A new solar lights were installed to light up city transit stops at night as a way of increasing rider safety and to increase awareness of stops for bus drivers.
Architectural controls were tweaked and flexed to allow for the construction of more show homes by developers in their neighbourhoods of choice, to increase land sales.
And traffic cameras at 25 Red Deer intersections were linked to the City’s corporate security system. This means traffic camera footage can now be recorded and shared across all departments, making it available for roads crews, first responders and transit staff.
The city is also exploring technology to reduce emissions from idling fleet vehicles to reduce the carbon footprint and achieve cost savings.
City councillors praised staff for making many efforts to improve city operations. Mayor Ken Johnston added he knows these kinds of innovations and efficiencies are implemented by managers and staff on an ongoing basis, but it’s good to see a detailed rundown.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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