Mountain View County (MVC) will be sending a letter to the Town of Sundre asking the town to reconsider its earlier decision to close the recycle centre in the municipality.
MVC councillors passed a motion at the recent regularly scheduled meeting instructing administration to prepare and send the letter.
The Town of Sundre has announced that it will be shutting down the centre effective Dec. 31, citing non-recyclable garbage being dropped at the site as a reason.
The un-manned centre allows residents, both from town and surrounding areas, to drop off recyclable items such as cardboard.
“We have a shared services agreement with them (Town of Sundre) for that recycling centre,” said Chris Atchison, director of legislative services. “They have advised us that the contract will be essentially cancelled.”
A new contractor has recently been brought on board to look after the site and there has been a noticeable improvement as far as cleanliness, he said.
Deputy Reeve Angela Aalbers said there has been a marked improvement at the site in recent weeks.
“The site is being left in a much better condition,” said Aalbers. “The site is being much better respected because the contractor is keeping it clean.”
She said keeping the site open would not negatively impact the Mountain View Regional Waste Management Commission (MVRWMC) budget.
“As far as waste commission budget item, this would not be an implication for the budget because the waste commission has actually continued to keep that Sundre recycling centre cost in the budget in case there was an opportunity to increase the open times at the transfer station or if there was another recycling centre location created within the municipality in 2019. Keeping that recycling centre open wouldn’t have a budget implication for the waste commission.”
Although Reeve Bruce Beattie did not attend the recent council meeting, he did send a message to council indicating he would support sending a letter to the Town of Sundre asking the town to reconsider the closure, she said.
Coun. Peggy Johnson said she is “highly in favour of sending the letter.”
Coun. Greg Harris said the county should request an update from the waste management commission on its recycling policies and plans.
“It would be to everyone's financial benefit if we got this thing squared away sooner than later,” said Harris.
Aalbers put forward a motion that the county send a letter to the Town of Sundre requesting that the town reconsider its decision to shut the centre at the end of December. The motion passed unanimously.
Councillors Dwayne Fulton and Duncan Milne did not attend the recent council meeting.
Resolutions passed in Edmonton
In other council news, both resolutions put forward by Mountain View County at the recent Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) conference were passed.
One relates to community peace officers and access to the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC).
The resolution calls on the “Minister of Justice to work with the Canadian Police Information Centre and any other ministry necessary to provide direct, mobile and timely Canadian Police Information Centre access to community peace officers (CPO) that can be used as a proactive and preventative tool within defined guidelines.”
The CPIC computer call-out system provides tactical information about crimes and criminals, such as whether warrants are outstanding for individuals questioned by police.
The background note accompanying the resolution states, in part, that, “Granting enhanced and timely access to CPIC for CPO would provide municipalities added flexibility to determine their internal processes and protocols for CPOs when dealing with the public. It would provide a potential for increase in safety of employees as well as operational efficiencies of the organization.”
The second MVC resolution relates to the annual release of date of assessment year modifiers, which deal with linear taxation.
Assessment year modifiers are mechanisms to adjust the base assessment value of linear and other property types up or down to reflect present costs. Alberta Municipal Affairs sets the assessment year modifiers for valuation on an annual basis.
The resolution calls on the provincial government to “set the annual date of release of assessment year modifiers at Sept. 15 or the nearest business day afterwards to allow municipalities to be properly informed when making budget decisions.”
In all, 24 resolutions were passed at the Edmonton convention. They will be used by the RMA as part of lobbying efforts with the provincial government.
County councillor Al Kemmere was re-elected president of the RMA for a third two-year term during the convention. The RMA represents 69 rural municipalities, include MVC.
