By Spencer Sterritt

City council questions yard waste collection

Dec 18, 2016 | 7:38 AM

Collecting yard waste may be too expensive to make sense.

The question of whether the city needs to collect yard waste was raised during a 2017 budget meeting early Saturday.

The discussion was prompted by a request for two more part-time yard waste removal employees as part of the sanitation budget at the cost of $76,000.

Councillor Charlene Miller said adding two new staff was not a solution to curb inefficiencies in the yard waste program, who currently have three staff and a truck travelling across the city to collect waste such as grass clippings.

She suggested having one workers with a truck who, instead of driving down all the roads and back alleys, would stop at houses which had signed up to have their waste removed.

Group homes

Prince Albert councillor says group homes are impacting police resources

5h ago

Well below Canadian average

More than 30 per cent of children in Prince Albert live in poverty, rates double for Northern Sask.

6h ago

2025 Crime Stats

Prince Albert sees positives and negatives out of 2025 crime statistics

6h ago

“Can we afford to do this anymore?” she asked. “I don’t believe we can and we have to be responsible.”

Councillor Don Cody expressed frustration at the high cost of sanitation. “We just cannot afford all this stuff,” he said after looking at proposals for new equipment, including a new front loader for the landfill.

Looking at the price tag, councillor Ted Zurakowski said he was interested in presenting questions to the public at upcoming neighbourhood meetings about the yard waste removal service and inform them how much it costs.

A report about efficiency within the sanitation department was requested as well.

Mayor Greg Dionne said yard waste remove has not been focused on in the past and it was time to ask questions and rectify the situation.

“We have to put some management attention into this, look at real options, looks at how we schedule pickups,” he said. “There’s got to be a better way to do it.”

After adjustments, including the removal of hiring two part-time summer employees, the budget committee passed the sanitation fund through with $8 million in operating revenue and expenses.

ssterritt@panow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit