WESTLOCK — Westlock County pressed pause on a proposal to close two waste transfer stations after public concerns, but that could bring taxes up by 1.75 per cent.
It’s not a firm decision one way or the other yet, and councillors will wait until they have clearer assessment dollar figures for the 2021 budget, but at the Jan. 26 governance and priorities meeting most expressed some level of concern with the way waste management was handled in December.
Reeve Jared Stitsen said more than 70 people have contacted him about the proposed closure. County residents were voicing their concerns online too.
“Really, the people have spoken on this and I wanted to bring that forward. Of course, garbage in the ditch is a big one, they don’t want to see that. They know other municipalities, including Sturgeon [County], have less transfer stations, less landfill options than Westlock County, but Westlock County shows for that. We have, I think, less garbage in our ditches.”
Most, Stitsen said, would rather be charged for the service than lose their nearby transfer stations. The county was considering shutting down the site in Busby, in the reeve’s division, and hadn’t yet decided between Pibroch or Vimy for the second closure.
Coun. Victor Julyan adamantly opposed the closure of the Vimy site in his division, and Coun. Isaac Skuban is still proposing a pay per use model at the transfer stations and closing two of them. For Coun. Dennis Primeau, they are an “essential service.”
“Maybe we can look at possibilities for managing it better,” he said.
“We should’ve made the right decision at the time we were doing the budget,” said Skuban. “The reality is, we can’t afford it. We just can’t.”
Deputy reeve Brian Coleman said he was concerned that councillors are reversing their December decision, but if the sites stay open, they should reorganize the process of waste management “to do this cheaper.”
Coun. Lou Hall questioned the need to have a regional waste management commission, arguing that it would be cheaper to do the service in-house with county employees, but no numbers were provided by administration to support that.
Interim CAO Rick McDonald said the budget is based on estimates until the final assessment numbers come in, and a decision on the transfer sites doesn’t have to be made now.
“Once we get to that place, we’ll then know where we are with cash and if we can pay for these things, and then determine whether to increase the millrate or not.”
Admin staff will be bringing more information forward, including comparisons with other neighbouring municipalities, to another governance meeting. They’ll include information for Hall on how much money the county pays the waste commission.
$60 fee still a problem
Some councillors’ views on the $60 annual fee to use the landfill and transfer sites is becoming less clear. Councillors voted to include it in the fees and rates bylaw Jan. 12, with Primeau — and to some extent Coun. Isaac Skuban — protesting.
A supporter of implementing the fee then, Hall changed course in the meantime. Now, she thinks the county’s entire proposal around garbage removal should be reviewed. There is no transfer station in her division, but she said she was contacted by a senior who can’t afford to pay $60 per year for a twice annual use of the landfill.
Residents do have the option to open an account with the Waste Commission and pay per use and weight according to their fee schedules, said Jacolyn Tigert, the county’s agriculture and environmental services manager.
This doesn’t include use of transfer sites, which are owned and operated by the county. Waste dumped there isn’t weighed until it reaches the regional landfill and is then counted into the county’s weight allotment.
It was also not communicated to councillors or the public during budget meetings, or when the fee was being implemented.
Julyan said the trip to county offices to pick up a card is untenable for many county residents, especially since the card has to be renewed every year. McDonald said that once the county’s new website is built, they could make the cards accessible electronically.
In the meantime, the deadline to get a card has been extended to the end of February.
Reeve offers apology for garbage fee implementation
At the same meeting, Stitsen said the county could’ve done a better job of implementing the $60 fee for use of the Westlock Regional Landfill and transfer sites.
Stitsen said the budget came out late and staff struggled to implement all the different measures in time.
“For that, I’ll apologize. We should’ve thought that out a little better as a team. We could’ve done something a little better with that,” Stitsen said. Hall agreed and said “we kind of rushed into this.”
He reiterated that the fee can’t be added to the tax roll because hamlet residents, who already pay $15 per month for garbage pickup, might not need to use the landfill. This was brought forward by Coun. Dennis Primeau early January and some members of the public.
Recycling options for hamlet residents should also be considered, Stitsen said: “If the people in the hamlets aren’t going to the transfer stations but they want to recycle, we need to look at it.” McDonald said the Westlock Regional Waste Management Commission is looking at adding compost to the landfill.
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