Less than a month after updating the solid waste bylaw to exclude fourplexes from receiving residential garbage pickup, council has switched their decision to allow for the service to the 34 buildings in town.
During council meeting March 12 council made amendments to the bylaw passed during the Feb. 13 meeting.
Mayor Jim Romane said the decision to amend the bylaw ultimately came down to issues with the contractor.
"When working out the details we realized it just wasn't worth it," he said after council explaining the town's solid waste contractor said they would have difficulties picking up garbage at fourplexes and asked the town to continue picking up solid waste from these location. He said some of the issues revolved around the difficulty in setting up contracts with individual tenants.
"Typically they run three year contracts and if someone moved or didn't pay there would be no recourse." He said the other issue was trying to figure out a way to pick up and measure the tonnage for each apartment.
As for the tenants, he said some fourplexes are condominiums and owners contacted the town to express their frustration of receiving water and sewer services from the town but not their garbage.
Romane said their concerns was a small part of council's decision to change the bylaw but ultimately it came down to difficulties of getting a contractor in and billing each unit separately.
"We don't want people to get the idea council can get bullied into it," said Coun. Derek Baird during council meeting. "It was more of a waste management issue."
The rate for pick up was set at $16 a month and $2 for the green box recycling program. As well, fourplexes currently contracting an outside service can switch over to the town pick up system, said Romane.
Approved during the Feb. 13 council meeting, the solid waste bylaw was created to clear up inconsistencies ó mainly defining what was and wasn't a commercial building. Council had agreed to include fourplexes in the commercial definition, meaning the town would not pick up garbage from those buildings. The decision was made because the majority of the fourplexes were already getting privately contracted garbage pickup, Darryl Joyce, director of corporate and protective services explained to the Province Feb. 28.
