LANCASTER – A four year contract for South Glengarry garbage pickup has been sidelined over the deputy mayor’s concerns bag limits haven’t been addressed.
Municipal staff had asked council recently to approve a four year contract with Environmental 360 Solutions for $467,000 a year for garbage collection – the same contractor doing the City of Cornwall’s garbage.
But Deputy Mayor Lyle Warden was peeved staff dropped a large contract on the new council days before the old one was to expire.
“The last term we really didn’t do anything about the (garbage bag) limits and I feel like a discussion should be had with the new council to see if there’s any will do do it further,” Warden said.
South Glengarry has a weekly garbage limit of eight (8) bags.
The deputy mayor said “it bothers me” that council was faced with a high-priced contract 12 days before the old one expired on June 1.
Ewen MacDonald said the contract expired in November and there had been an extension.
MacDonald: “I’ve come to council a number of times about bag limits and there’s been no appetite for them whatsoever.”
Warden: “You haven’t come to the new council though.”
MacDonald: “Well, I guess not. Fair enough.”
Warden added that “this should have dealt with last month or the month before to allow time. What if there was a legitimate concern? On social media, the new company in Cornwall hasn’t been getting a lot of positive reviews with their pickup style.”
MacDonald later suggested he would go back to the existing contractor and ask for another extension of six months while re-tendering the contract.
“We got to get away from putting everything off until the last second. I despise it,” Warden stated.
Because of a series of contract extensions, South Glengarry hasn’t been able to sync up their garbage and recycling contracts to be able to have companies bid on them together.