That Council of the Township of Whitewater Region approve a pilot program for curbside collection of leaf & yard waste in 2021.
Lane Cleroux said that with the Provincial Stay at Home owner, they were offering a program to “encourage townspeople to stay home and not venture to the landfill.”
He said that the collection would be from May 3 to may 6, and would include “branches, leaves and wood within a certain size”
He said that the program would take two employees and a truck, and t
He said it was estimated to cost from $4500 to $16000, and would have a quick turnaround and be advertised by printed and radio ads.
“It sounds like a good idea but it sounds expensive.” Councillor Mackay said. “Why don’t we encourage them to bring it to the dump and drop it there. It costs nothing.”
“The landfill is actually busy. People are cranky. People aren’t wearing their masks like they should be.” CAO trembley said. “We’re one of the few Townships that don’t do this, so it makes the most sense to offer this.”
“We’re looking at limiting the number of vehicles.”
Mayor Moore expressed approval for the plan. “I have a lot of yard waste this year.”
Councillor McLaughlin said that they should have put it in place “A month ago.” an that “90% of homeowners have already cleaned it up.”
“We are a rural community, and this is taking away from that community.” he said. “Our neighbors are towns. I can see the money spent in a different area than offering these projects. I think we need money for the losses at our arenas.”
“I think there a lot of places that money could be put instead of something that hsould have been done two months ago.”
Cleroux said that this year was unique in that ‘spring did come early’ but was in linew ith other areas that usually collected it in April or May.
“I am unaware of neighbors that are towns.” Said Councillor Jackson. “Our neighbors are Admaston Bromley, and Laurentian Valley. I think our manager might want to see our waste disposal less busy, and I agree with him.”
“There are seniors who can’t get their leaf disposal to the dump, and this will help them.”
Reeve Regier asked if the pickup couldn’t be done over the ‘long weekend’ in may (21-24).
CAO Trembley said that they would ‘bombard’ the media to ‘get the message out quickly and to as many people as possible so that it is utilized’.
Councillor Nicholson said that he “struggled with” the proposal due to his own rural placement, though had neighbors who would require it.
“I think this is the right opportunity to try something this year.” he said. “I urge staff to collect as much data as they can.”
“If we want to look at this going forward, I would like a lot more data.”
Councillor McLaughlin said he was speaking of Renfrew and Laurentian Valley when he spoke of ‘towns’, and asked if Hartland and Admaston-Bromley offered it.
Cleroux said that Hartland did not do “leaf and yard waste” and Admaston Bromley did not do pickup of any kind.
Councillor McLaughlin expressed continued disagreement with the plan, saying that they need to “look at the dollars” and that “it will not be utilized.”
Reeve Regier expressed concern at the “short, two week time frame’ for the plan saying
“I don’t know if we’re going to get a bang for our buck in the next 10 days.” she said. “We should have had this a month ago.”
CAO Trembley said the difficulty was that “The premier [of Ontario, Doug Ford] changes the Stay At Home Orders every week.”
“We’re going to be working on this tomorrow to get the radio ads if approved for Council.
CAO Tremley asked if they wanted to specific the ‘second week of May’, the 10th to 13th, would be an alternative day.
Councillor McLaughlin expressed concern for the advertising costs, which CAO Trembley said that the ads come from the allocated radio ads fault.
McLaughlin asked if the money was coming from the COVID Restart.
CAO Trembley “we have that advertising money because the Township has decided it’s important to communicate with the residents.”
McLaughlin argued with CAO Trembley that the money for the advertising “could be better used elsewhere.” To which Councillor Jackson asked that it simply go to vote rather than continue the debate.
McLaughlin asked for a recorded vote, recording the different individual votes.
Councillor McLaughlin and Councillor Mackay voted Nay.
Councillor Jackson, Reeve Regier, Councillor Nicholson, Councillor Olmstead, and Mayor Moore voted In Favour.
The motion was carried.
