Odour issues seem to be plaguing All Treat Farm Ltd.
Councillor Dan Yake said smell seems to be a persistent problem in recent weeks.
The composting facility is located near the intersection of Highway 6 and County Road 109 at the southern edge of Arthur.
"People there are really concerned," Yake said. "It’s been said many times, if there is a will, there is a way.
"Generally, I don’t get calls from the Arthur area, but I’ve had a half dozen calls in the past few weeks."
He cited numerous letters in local Newspapers and said he was bringing up the issue because it was raised by people calling him.
Yake said he does not have any answers, but now that he works in Arthur, he is getting the drift.
"When you can smell it where I work, you know it is bad," Yake said.
Mayor Mike Broomhead mentioned a coming meeting of municipal representatives with the Ministry of Environment on Oct. 9. He said there has been discussion with the owners, who are setting up a committee for future plans.
Broomhead added the materials under cover are not the source of the odour. However, there is still piled material being composted.
Future plans include having all materials composted under cover, he said.
Broomhead said residents can forward concerns to the MOE, but as a municipality, Wellington North is looking into it.
However, Yake contended, as he has in the past on other issues, that letter writing campaigns are sometimes exercises in futility.
He suggested perhaps All Treat Farms needs to be even more open and communicate more to the public about what is happening – and what the company is trying to do to address the concerns.
"If that happened, the public might be more willing to give it the benefit of the doubt."
