Council delays debate on automated garbage-bin plan
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/09/2009 (5890 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
WINNIPEG – There will be no trash talk at city council today, as opposition councillors took the rare opportunity to use procedure to put off a debate about a plan to change the way garbage is collected in Winnipeg’s northwest quadrant.
City council was expected to approve a new residential garbage contract that would have seen rolling carts replace garbage cans at 42,500 homes north of the Assiniboine River and west of the Red River.
The plan, which was made public one week ago, would also have seen waste-management company BFI Canada receive a $13.3-million contract to use trucks to automatically empty the bins, beginning Feb. 1.
Although executive policy committee approved the plan unanimously this morning at a special meeting, the plan failed to make it on to the floor of council.
According to council rules, two thirds of the 16-member body must approve any motion that comes before council on short notice. While such votes are usually automatic, Couns. Jenny Gerbasi (Fort Rouge), John Orlikow (River Heights), Harvey Smith (Daniel McIntyre), Lillian Thomas (Elmwood), Dan Vandal (St. Boniface) and Russ Wyatt (Transcona) refused to vote to suspend council’s rules.
Gerbasi said opposition councilors are “tired of getting walked-on by walk-on reports” such as the garbage plan, which came forward quickly because of the impending termination of existing city garbage contracts.
Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz accused left-leaning opposition councilors of merely being beholden to unions. The city’s largest union, Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500, opposes the new garbage plan.
Katz said the delay could cost the city an unknown sum of cash if garbage contracts must be extended or renegotiated.
The mayor said a special meeting of city council will likely be called to deal with the garbage issue next week, possibly on Wednesday, Oct. 7.
