Progress for garbage collection in Hastings

Sitting on the back porch with his buddy, Snoopy says, “You know, some day we're all gonna die.”

His buddy sighs, “Yeah, I know, but on all the other days, we all still have to haul our own garbage to a dump site—in Hastings Highlands.”

Well, maybe not! The hold-up to allow former mayor Emond's delegation was finally resolved by a majority on Hastings Highlands (HH) council. Thus, at the Sept. 7 meeting, Emond presented his new in-house garbage Proposal for consideration by council.

Brent Dalgleish the first mayor of HH spoke first to remind council of the original terms of the Charter of Amalgamation in 2000 — including the pledge to extend garbage service to all three wards. He said in the two largest wards, this service was already in place, but during negotiations, the council of the day in Monteagle insisted that the service be extended to their ratepayers as well. Consequently, each new council maintained the service in each ward in HH for 14 years.

Furthermore, he pointed out, in the new world of greater recycling, today most surrounding municipalities  consider garbage collection essential, in order to realize the full profit margin from properly recycled materials.

Emond spoke next, and within the short 10-minute time slot allowed, he managed to get across the details and advantages within his proposal. Lastly he revealed the bottom line for his new in-house system at a cost of $189,800 per year, a figure considerably less than the $250,000 each year previously paid by HH for garbage collection since 2000 — for an outside contractor to do the job.

He concluded the $189,800 is based on weekly pick-up, but this figure could be substantially reduced if council chose pick-up garbage on a bi-weekly basis. He asked council to seriously consider this new in-house business proposal, and said he would be pleased to answer any further questions.   

Councillor Hald Robinson spoke up to say he'd given this garbage issue a lot of thought. He said it seemed to have become a sore point for a majority of our ratepayers. He was concerned about our aging population, causing them extra hardship to get their own garbage to a dump site. The increase in recycling changes everything he said, and he thought the township would get a greater cash benefit from having it picked up with the regular garbage, where proper disposal would be a benefit to everybody. He then made the following notice of motion:

“That council agree to examine this proposal in detail with a view to adopting the new in-house business plan, in accordance with our previous motion to move forward with municipal business.”

The above notice will be presented to council in a motion on Wednesday, Oct. 5 for a possible vote on the issue.

If you are concerned about the outcome, email or call your HH council representatives to make your wishes known. Upholding our democracy  calls for action by everyone.

Submitted by Lorraine Fell