by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
COBDEN — A Whitewater Region council member suggested at last week’s council meeting that property owners be charged a certain amount on their tax bills for garbage disposal, instead of using the yellow garbage bag system that is currently used.
In reviewing department reports, a report by environmental services manager Steve Hodson noted the yearly order of 50,000 garbage bags would be placed.
Councillor Cathy Regier questioned if the same manufacturer is being used.
“It seems every time we order those, they’re getting flimsier, or is it just me?” she questioned. “I have complaints about them, and I’m just wondering if they’re coming from the same manufacturer.”
It is the same manufacturer, Chief Administrative Officer Christine FitzSimons said, adding, she brought this same issue up with Mr. Hodson last year.
“He did contact the manufacturer,” she said. “They claim it’s the same bag, that it hasn’t changed.
“They look thinner to me, so I think maybe we’ll address that one more time,” she added. “Of course they’re going to say the bag is the same, so we can certainly look into that.”
Councillor Charlene Jackson questioned if there is a report from the garbage collection as to how many households actually put out garbage.
“I don’t see a whole lot of yellow bags out at any point in time,” she said. “Perhaps further away from the waste disposal site there might be, but certainly in our neighbourhood, if I see one yellow bag a month, maybe even less than that, there’s not many out,” she said. “They take their garbage to the dump.”
CAO FitzSimons said there are many yellow bags placed out in Cobden on collection day.
She said Mr. Hodson, who was advised he didn’t have to attend the meeting, will have stats provided for council.
Reeve Terry Millar said there should be data available, since the bags are sold and there’s not many people who would pay for the bags and not use them.
CAO FitzSimons agreed, saying, “Steve is always well organized when it comes to data collection, so I will ask him to draft a report of that nature.”
Councillor Chris Olmstead suggested supplying the bags be put out to tender.
Coun. Jackson suggested instead of looking at a different supplier, possibly council could look at a different way of doing the collection.
“Rather than the yellow bag, and rather than purchasing, I know other municipalities charge so much on the tax rate above and beyond the tax rate,” she said, explaining, “Charge a flat fee to each individual household.”
There would be guidelines, such as how many bags each household could then put at curbside, and each would have a maximum allowable weight, she said.
CAO FitzSimons said she will provide the information to Mr. Hodson, who will then provide a report for council.
Other information provided in Mr. Hodson’s report: the annual topographic survey results taken of the waste mound at the landfill site determined that the total landfilled volume used in 2015 was 8,500 cubic metres.
