BARRHEAD-A debate on whether or not to renew a contract for the maintenance of the County of Barrhead’s five transfer stations led to a bigger discussion those facilities and the Take It or Leave It pilot program.
Councillors unanimously approved a recommendation by administration at their Jan. 19 meeting to renew a contract with Luke's Contract Hauling for three years to supervise and maintain the municipality's five transfer stations at $46,881.24 annually, excluding GST.
The company has held the contract since 2016 and the previous one-year contract expired Dec. 31.
"We are comfortable with this for a couple of reasons," county manager Debbie Oyarzun said. "The service has met expectations and having the same price for three years is good for budgeting. There is always the possibility if it goes out to tender that it will come back at a higher rate."
She added the agreement also included an out clause for the municipality and the contractor.
"Thirty days without clause for the municipality or with five days notice if it is a performance issue," she said.
If Luke's Contract Hauling wants to terminate the contract, they need to give the municipality 90-days notice. This is to allow the municipality time to find a replacement.
Coun. Ron Kleinfeldt asked if the contract included the Take It or Leave It program they temporarily suspended due to the pandemic. The pilot program has been in place at the Dunstable transfer station which allows residents to 'take or leave' useful items as a form of recycling.
Acceptable items include items intact or in working order, furniture without stains or broken parts, electronics in working condition, lumber and construction material in good condition.
"It was closed for part of the year," Oyarzun said. "Unfortunately the public was still dumping stuff there so although [the contractor] wasn't doing the same tasks, he still had to go in there and clean it up and dispose of it."
She added the topic of whether or not to continue the program is scheduled for later on this year.
Transfer stations openings
Later on in the meeting, Coun. Dennis Nanninga initiated a discussion on how many days the transfer stations should be open.
Currently, each of the transfer stations in Tiger Lily, Meadowview, Manola, Vega-Neerlandia, Thunder Lake and Dunstable are open one day a week under supervision on a rotating basis.
"We've come a long way and I think people are taking responsibility for disposing of their garbage so perhaps it is time that we can start leaving them open," he said.
Director of infrastructure Ken Hove said it only takes a few 'bad apples' breaking the rules and disposing of items they shouldn't to spoil it for the rest.
Reeve Doug Drozd said rumour has it that Westlock County is considering closing its transfer station in Busby which could leave the Dunstable site open to illegal dumping if council did not have controls on their transfer stations.
"I'm pretty sure a lot of that is happening already," he said.
Drozd used the example of how some sewer vacuum trucks from Lac Ste. Anne County truck would discharge their loads at the Dunstable Lagoon after they increased their user fees.
"Perhaps we should flag this as an Inter-municipal Collaborative Framework (ICF) discussion if they are going to decrease service in their county and it results in an increase of activity in ours," he said.
ICF agreements are established between neighbouring municipalities on a wide variety of issues that impact both communities such as recreation, shared water and sewer to joint land planning.
These agreements were made mandatory under the province’s revised Municipal Government Act (MGA).
The deadline for coming to these agreements between rural and urban municipalities was April 1, 2020. Rural to rural municipalities have until April 1, 2021.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
