Seven year waste collection contracts not supported in Adjala-Tosorontio

By Richard Blanchard Newtectimes.com January 19 2011

A proposal that Simcoe county tender its waste collection contract for the entire county for a seven year term may not be in the best interests of county residents according to at least one member of Adjala-Tosorontio council.

Councillor Doug Little, who chaired the county’s Corporate Services committee until the end of November, which has responsibility for waste, said that he worried about the county and residents’ ability to deal with the winner of a contract which covered the entire county for such a long period of time.

“I don’t mean to be too critical after I stopped serving on county council but I know that we had problems with pickup last winter with contractors. We weren’t too happy with the response from them,” said Little.

Deputy mayor Mary Brett said there already had been concerns raised about a monopoly if the county decided to award a county wide contract for such a long period of time.

A report from Public Works Superintendent Jim Moss said that he had attended a public information session about the changes to the tendering process. He also said concerns were raised that a county wide contract would eliminate smaller companies from tendering, and the impact a strike by staff would have on the county.

The county’s Environmental Services department would like to tender for the contract this spring with the contract being awarded in July.

The new contract would not start until July, 2012 which would allow the winning company time to buy new trucks for the contract.

County staff plans to visit each municipality to discuss the contracting process later this winter.