Council is pumping the brakes on Staff’s decision to end commercial garbage collection.
City Administration announced Wednesday it planned to end the service and use the manpower on things like collecting needles and illegally dumped garbage.
Before making a final decision, Council wants more information from Staff.
Councillor Garth Frizzell is hoping there’s a financial way to please everyone
“Yes, we want those needles picked up. Yes, we want the illegal dumping (picked up), but yes, we also want to maintain the commercial side. How are we going to do that monetarily? That’s the part that Finance and Audit’s (Committee) going to look at, but what we made clear is what the community as a whole through council wants,” he says.
Councillor Murray Krause has some concerns. He doesn’t want to give anyone the wrong idea by picking up illegal waste.
“My concern is that if we just start doing it then some people may think it’s just acceptable and it can become a bigger problem than it currently is,” he says.
Without the service, Manager of Solid Waste Services Sean LeBrun says the service to about 200 businesses would take about fourteen hours a week, which he says could be used elsewhere.
He adds the change will cost the City about $45,000 in lost revenue, which will be absorbed by utility increases over the next three years.
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