The trash talk will finally come to an end after the Regional Landfill Committee voted in favour of new hours of operation.
As of Oct. 1 of this year, there will be changes to the hours of operation at the Regional Waste Management Facility. It was decided at the Landfill Committee Meeting on May 26 to recommend to Town and County councils changes to the opening days and hours. The main factor driving the proposed changes was the fact landfill workers have never had off a Sunday. Currently, the landfill is open from Wednesday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
However, come October, the days of operation will now be from Tuesday to Saturday. It will be closed Sundays and Mondays. On Tuesdays, the landfill would be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. from October to March, and from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. from April to September. From Wednesday to Saturday, the hours of operation would be 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. year round. Being closed on a Sunday would allow workers to spend time with their families.
The extended hours during the summer months would allow users to dispose of any extra refuse that was collected during the two days the landfill is closed, which would especially come in handy for contractors.
Mayor Brian Schulz said the motion was made at the recent Regional Landfill Committee meeting and the vote was 3-1 in favour of the changes. Schulz, Town Coun. Ty Assaf and County Coun. Marvin Brade voted in favour of the changes, while Coun. Bill Lane remained adamant in his opposition to the proposed hours of operation. The matter will now come before Town council at its Aug. 22 meeting for ratification.
“It’s a done deal as far as I’m concerned,” Schulz said. “It was a clear majority.”
The landfill committee chose October, because it wanted to give residents time to adjust to the hours of operation, he said.
“This is really to promote more family time for the employees at the landfill,” Schulz said, and added a survey was conducted among neighbouring communities, and out of the 17 respondents, none of them had their landfill open on Sundays.
Schulz said he was happy a decision was finally made on the issue, and that the debate had been going on far too long. Both councils discussed the landfill hours at their respective meetings and agreed to bring it to their most recent joint meeting. From there, it was sent back to the landfill committee, and that’s where the motion was made.
The County of Barrhead decided at its meeting last week to send a letter to the Town asking that the County be able to provide input into the decision. County CAO Mark Oberg said the decision may have been made legally, but the County does not want to be left out of the process. In the agreement between the Town of Barrhead and the County of Barrhead for the regional waste management facility, it states the unit of authority (the Town of Barrhead) will manage the daily operations of the landfill site, pursuant always to the directives and approvals of the Regional Landfill Committee.
Oberg said it is important for the County to have input into this decision, because many of the landfill users are County residents. Council agreed to send a letter to the Town explaining the situation in hopes that it would be addressed.
Reeve Bill Lee agreed, and said the fact the new hours will affect County ratepayers and how they will use the regional landfill. As such, councillors should have a say in what happens there. Sunday is a day when most people spend time cleaning their homes and taking their stuff to the landfill, and he anticipates this will be a bit of a sore spot with many ratepayers for a while.
“The agreement is pretty straightforward and has been so since it was drafted, until you get into a situation like this,” Lee said. “If this is the way it turns out, then it’s the way it is going to turn out.”
Schulz said, ultimately, the power is in the hands of the Town.
“We are in charge of operating the landfill, and these people are employees of the Town,” Schulz said. “In other joint ventures, where the County is the unit of authority, we don’t try to dictate hours of operation, nor should we.”
A large number of residents from the Thunder Lake area, represented by Coun. Lane, were opposed right from the start to the new hours. Schulz said there is a large transfer station at Thunder Lake, and if the new landfills hours are going to be that much of a hardship, the Town would have no objections to opening the transfer station on Sundays.
“We listened to concerns, and this is the decision, and I’m very pleased that people supported it,” Schulz said.
Lee said he will accept the decision, because it was made following the policies and the format set in place, but he said he is not happy with the fact the County had no say in it.
“Perhaps the residents should voice their concerns on this. It is out of our hands, and we as council had no input in the decision. The town is the unit of authority, and if that’s what it says in the agreement, then that’s what will happen.”
