Simcoe County will not put it staff at risk to go help its contractor collect garbage.
That’s what county councillors decided, after performance issues persisted over the holidays and into early January with its Progressive Waste Solutions.
Instead, it’s continuing to encourage residents to sign up for phone calls or text message alerts, a service it set up because collection troubles continue to plague the county’s contractor as well as residents who depend on the county to manage their waste. Sign up at simcoe.ca/dpt/swm/when to get notified about pick-up delays and when garbage collection will occur.
“Our town was affected quite severely over the holiday period. There was a storm on a Thursday and the following Thursday residents were all double-bagging but there wasn’t the (truck) capacity to pick it up and Progressive had to come back on Friday and for some even on Saturday,” said Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor Rob Keffer.
“I’d like a report with some solutions we could look at, ways county staff could see as viable ways of helping Progressive to pick up the waste as our residents expect.”
The county’s contract with Progressive expires in March 2020. It has provisions that penalize the contractor for failing to pick up waste on time. Last summer, as garbage baked in the heat while Progressive struggled with staffing issues, the county assessed $400,000 in damages.
The county, however, is not levying fines for late collections that occurred due to winter weather.
And unlike Keffer from the south, North Simcoe politicians weren’t so keen on county staff taking on the job of picking up garbage when roads are slick or visibility is poor.
“We’ve all suffered with the adverse weather,” said Midland Mayor Gord McKay. “This puts the monkey back on our back. We should be working with our partner (Progressive Waste),” he said.
“Sometimes bad things do happen. It’s not as if they don’t care. They’re doing what they can to rectify the situation.”
Tay Township Mayor Scott Warnock said the issues in the summer were addressed through recruitment and training a pool of drivers. He credited the company for going the extra mile in the winter to get the job done.
While stuck on an icy hill along with several other cars, he saw a Progressive Waste support vehicle checking up on the collections crews.
“He was out there making sure everyone was safe,” said Warnock, adding freezing rain cripples municipal crews and puts a halt to school buses.
He questioned whether if roads are so bad whether garbage trucks should be out there too.
“Everything else is off the road, but the waste trucks. I don’t think that’s fair,” Warnock said.
