Mistrust dominates waste debate

By Matthew Talbot Innisfil Journal
About 60 people turned out to the first in a series of three hastily prepared meetings to discuss the future of waste management in Simcoe County.
Many of those in attendance at Monday night’s open house and meeting at the Nottawasaga Inn’s Crystal Ballroom expressed anger at the short notice given for the series of meetings and a general mistrust of the county about waste after all the issues that arose from the Site 41 dump last summer.
According to consultants from Stantec, Site 41 is off the radar. The county’s perceived mishandling of that issue has left many residents struggling to once again trust staff and council; and that mistrust wasn’t alleviated Monday night.
Simcoe County issued notice of the meetings late last week, leaving the residents who attended Monday’s session less than five days notice.
Most at the meeting were from groups like South Simcoe Environment Watch and Gateway to Simcoe County.
Worse yet according to the residents, they now only have until Feb. 16 to submit feedback on where they think Simcoe County should steer its waste management and diversion plans. Anything received after Feb. 16 “will still be considered” but won’t be included in a report to county council due in early March, said Stantec’s Janine Ralph.
Director of environmental services Rob McCullough said the county put effort forward to notify people and solicit input. He said county council only approved the meetings at the end of January.
“(Advertisements) have been published in as many ways as they can,” McCullough said.
Notices about the Feb. 8-10 meetings were issued Feb. 4. Radio spots advertised the meetings last week with little detail, lacking even the dates and locations, directing residents to the county’s website for more information. Newspaper ads appeared in some late-week editions.
Former NDP candidate Katie Austin from Elmvale questioned the lack of advertising, and asked how much was spent on the meetings.
While McCullough said he couldn’t talk specifics about the cost Monday night, a check with the county revealed the price tag for the three meetings was about $50,000. Of that total, $12,000 was spent on advertising and $38,000 for facility rentals and consultant’s fees. That’s in addition to the $200,000 the county has already spent to hire Stantec for the review.
“We should have saved a ton of money by not renting the (Crystal Ballroom at the) Nottawasaga Inn. We put these (meetings) at our town halls,” said well-known Site 41 opponent Anne Ritchie-Nahuis.
She also raised concerns there could be a disconnect between what was heard at the meeting and what’s presented to county and municipal councillors.
New Tecumseth councillors were essentially excluded from the meeting held in their own municipality as it was held the same night as a regular council meeting. The meeting in Wasaga Beach was similarly held Tuesday night, the same night as that municipality’s council meeting.
Some residents said they felt the process was being rushed to accommodate an election year.
One woman, who refused to give her name, said waste management strategies usually take a year and a half to complete, and accused Simcoe County council of trying to deal with a complex and difficult issue “within the election year”.
For many residents, questions were left unanswered and time is running out to have their say.
A second round of meetings are being held in May, however McCullough said they will focus on getting feedback on proposals, rather than seeking input on which direction the county should head.
Residents at the Monday night meeting called for a month’s notice in advance of the second round of meetings, which are expected to be held in May.
– With files from Laurie Watt
SIDEBARS
County facing waste crisis
Simcoe County is facing a waste management crisis. Half of the county’s landfill sites had no remaining capacity as of January 2009 – and now a solution is being sought.
Consultants Stantec have been instructed to prepare a full report and submit it to county council by June.
Part of that report will include feedback from public meetings held Feb. 8, 9 and 10 in three of the county’s 16 member municipalities.
Stantec’s Janine Ralph said the process is in its second phase – evaluating options and assessing the current system of waste management.
Phase three will deal with recommending a system of waste management and presenting cost and financing options. Phase four is implementation.
She told about 60 residents gathered at a public meeting Monday night in Alliston that they wouldn’t be talking “specific technologies to be used in managing waste or handling composition” but more about how the county should approach the issue.
Among the things being considered is internal or external handling of recycling and composting. The county could also be looking at reducing waste tonnage, eventually heading toward a zero-waste model, said county director of environmental services Rob McCullough.
Several diversion options were presented, including clear bags at the curbside, larger recycling boxes in homes, public-space recycling and special event recycling.
Ralph said the county needs long-term and short-term disposal options as it heads toward zero waste.
She said Site 41 “is not an option for waste disposal, per a county resolution.”
Short term, the county could look at banning commercial garbage from landfills, while long-term it could look at internal disposal capacity at sites nine (Medonte), 12 (Sunnidale) and 42 (the Georgian Triangle).
Residents who attended the meetings were given workbooks they could fill out and return to Stantec by Feb. 16.
A feedback form is also available online at the county’s website at www.simcoe.ca.
Timeline
• Feb. 8-10: Public meetings gathering feedback on options
• Late February: Consultants select preferred options
• March 1: The steering committee meets to hear the results of the public consultations and what consultants have chosen as preferred options
• End of March: System description and cost and financing solutions completed
• April 5: Steering committee meets to discuss system description and cost
• Late April: Workshop held with county council
• Week of May 3: Public information sessions on draft strategy
• May 17: Comments from public sent back to steering committee
• May 24: Draft strategy prepared
• June: Draft presented to county council