Garbage fees put the most recent Regional District of Bulkley鈥揘echako (RDBN) meeting into the dumpster, for one segment of the agenda.
In what was otherwise a pleasant and collegial meeting prior to the election, passions flew like a bear in a trash heap over how the public should pay for solid waste management. Chair Gerry Thiessen, in his last meeting in that position, had to intervene twice during the discussion. One time he had to scold the room for disrespectful sounds during conversation and in a second instance had to call an unscheduled recess to restore order.
It must be noted that no elected officials engaged in personal attacks or argumentative cross-fire, such as we often see in houses of Parliament, but there was clearly tension over the idea of taxpayers on the whole paying for solid waste management versus paying a 鈥渢ipping fee鈥� at the landfill site when you drop off your garbage.
A report was presented at the meeting by Alex Eriksen, the RDBN鈥檚 director of Environmental Services, with input by solid waste management consultants hired to help, and the RDBN鈥檚 Waste Management Committee. It was the next in a series of reports, with ongoing quarterly reports expected into the future.
Some of the directors at the table complained that a formal call for questions had been made, those questions were submitted, but the answers were not apparent in the report.
鈥淲hen it comes to this user-pay system, I wasn鈥檛 part of agreeing to that, as a model we were going to move to, and I am accountable to the taxpayers that I represent,鈥� said Houston鈥檚 rural representative Chris Newell. 鈥淪o I need to know some of those numbers, and I need those questions answered that don鈥檛 appear to be answered yet. I鈥檓 not comfortable moving forward with this until I know that. I thought that was why we had to send them in as emails, so those would be answered in the next meeting.鈥�
The representative for Francois-Ootsa Lake, Clint Lambert, concurred, saying 鈥淲e asked you a bunch of questions and we didn鈥檛 get the answers. You made assumptions to get your answers. You could have made assumptions to get the numbers we were asking for. You had a month to do it. We don鈥檛 have it. We have what you guys want to do, but we don鈥檛 have the numbers about where we鈥檙e coming from or where we鈥檙e going.鈥� Lambert added that he, too, was not party to any votes in favour of the tipping fee model.
After half an hour of dialogue over what the cost projections might be, and how implementation might look, the rural representative of Smithers, Mark Fisher, the chair of the Waste Management Committee, heatedly interjected on behalf of the staff report. He stressed that all the questions were answered in the report, just not necessarily explicitly, and there was plenty of time going forward to get any clarity a director felt was lacking.
Furthermore, he reminded all in the room that they have had their entire previous mandates to bring up any wish they might have to revisit the previously approved Solid Waste Management Plan.
鈥淭herefore, you are on board. You did decide,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f you did not rescind that motion, you chose to be on the path that was chosen before you. That鈥檚 the way it works. To say 鈥榗orrect me if I鈥檓 wrong鈥︹�� you are wrong. It is there. The cost of the system is going to be there whether it is taxation or user fees. Let鈥檚 put it on the users. There are large portions of the population that won鈥檛 be impacted by this at all, if they can divert. We are not going to accomplish anything if we fight and put up roadblocks over something that was decided not four years ago but 20 years ago as well. Let鈥檚 get with the times or rescind the motion. That is an option.鈥�
The board then voted to approve the continuation of the user-fee (a charge at the garbage dump) system as presented in the report, although it was not unanimous. How much the user fees might be, how they might be paid, and when a payment plan might start are not yet determined. It is still possible, with a majority vote of RDBN directors, to overturn the current plan and revert back to paying for solid waste costs out of general tax revenues.
