Waste should top county council agenda

Our Simcoe County council is made up of the mayors and deputy mayors of 16 municipalities.

They manage a budget of $440 million and oversee everything from social services to growth management.

Our mayors already have a full-time job, so you can appreciate that their time for county matters is limited. And when time is limited and the issue complicated, mistakes can be made. Take the issue of waste management.

County Council is disadvantaged right from the start for the simple reason that there is no long-term waste management master plan.

Councillors are making decisions that will affect our waste practices for decades to come without the benefit of an agreed policy framework. It's like building a house without using a blueprint.

But construction is underway and Simcoe County is intent on building new landfills. The Province wanted to ensure proper public involvement so they set-up the Site 41 Community Monitoring Committee. The committee's relationship with the county is to say the least strained. The chair of the committee recently concluded "the committee is so distracted trying to get any relevant information from the county that it cannot do its work". So much for public input.

So the public tried again. A group of three private citizens got together and looked at the county's published numbers on waste management.

They found that with the proper plan the county had sufficient landfill to last for the next 100 years and needed no new landfill. When this was brought to county staff 's attention - they agreed! In their written response, the county stated "while we may differ slightly on them (landfill capacities) the discrepancies are not consequential". So if with the right plan we don't need more landfill, then why are we building more?

These same citizens then turned to the county's recently completed business case that showed that the Site 41 landfill was the best disposal option. They found a significant flaw in the business case logic and informed the county. Surprisingly, the response was that while the flaw was real any further discussion would be deferred until 2008.

The information is there. The challenge is presenting it to our county council so they can properly assess it and make informed decisions. And comments such as those from Alan Greenwood, county communications manager, where interested citizens are characterized as "narrowminded self interest groups" are not helpful.

Lets get our county council working on the needed Waste Management Master Plan and away from digging more landfills. Lets give them the time to hear about new waste technologies without the pressure of artificial deadlines. And lets give our citizens a chance for input into their future.
Gord McKay,
Midland