Residents’ concerns about the township’s yard waste and brush program have been heard by Wellington North council, leading to a change of the current pick up and drop off system.
After a petition bearing over 400 signatures was received at the June 6 council meeting, councillors decided to return to the drawing board. The public works committee drafted a recommendation for approval at the July 11 council meeting.
The changes to the current program include:
– monthly curbside pick-up of yard waste;
– yard waste to be picked up must be contained in brown bags and/or reusable containers not exceeding 50lbs;
– works yard drop off site to remain closed;
– residents to separate wood and brush from yard waste for pick up; and
– pick-up and event days will continue as scheduled for 2016.
Curbside pick-up dates increase from four to seven a year, while the drop off event days will be cancelled for 2017.
“Do we have it right? I’m not 100 per cent sure we have it right, but I think that we need to move forward with this, see how it receives and carry on,” said councillor Dan Yake, who was opposed to the previous changes in April.
Councillor Sherry Burke was also opposed to the changes in April and said there is more work to be done.
“I’m disappointed that we weren’t able to come up with a drop off site and resolve that issue,” she said.
Burke said council needs to address the yard waste from the horticultural societies tending to the municipal flower beds.
“Are these folks expected to take the garden waste from the municipal beds and store it on their property?” she asked.
“These folks volunteer and look after flowerbeds in our municipality … I don’t think that’s been fully addressed.”
Mayor Andy Lennox said the staff have been working hard to strike a balance between what was offered previously and what they can offer.
“I don’t know if there is a perfect solution in this case.”
Councillor Steve McCabe asked about the services offered in the hamlets of the township.
“I’ve had calls from people in Conn and in Damascus saying what are we going to do for them with regard to pick up, and I find I don’t have an answer for them,” said McCabe.
“I don’t like the idea of having a kind of two-tiered system because they are more I would say smaller urban than rural. How would we deal with that, the smaller hamlets?”
Councillor Lisa Hern echoed his comments.
“I got looking through our strategic plan, I went to that for a little bit of guidance on this end,” she explained.
“Something that I pulled out of there says ‘ensuring consistent service levels throughout the township,’ so that is one of my questions.”
Lennox said those questions were not easy to answer.
Yake said he believed they would be able to work through these issues as the program progresses.
Hern, who does not sit on the public works committee, asked what the cost of the new program is. “I need to be able to justify this to the people in my ward,” she said.
Lennox did not provide a dollar figure but explained it would be similar to the costs offered before the changes in April in terms of labour and equipment.
“It’s hard to do an apple-to-apples comparison this is similar to the services offered before basically with the reduction of drop off locations and we’re asking for some additional segregation and containerization by residents to facilitate both efficient pick up and appropriate enforcement,” said Lennox.
“Are we ever going to reach this nirvana of perfection where everybody’s equal, no I don’t think we are.”
He added that this service is not offered in other municipalities in Wellington County.
“This really should be considered a service that is superior to that of our neighbouring communities,” he said.
The remaining 2016 dates for the curbside pick up in Arthur are Aug. 3, Sept. 7 and Oct. 5. Mount Forest 2016 pick up dates are Aug. 31, Sept. 28 and Oct. 26.
Fall leaf pick up will be Oct. 19 and Nov. 2 for Arthur and Oct. 26 and Nov. 9 for Mount Forest.
