Councillors fail to decide on new garbage-and-recycling contracts
Water and waste committee hung up in tie vote; Plan to hire two new private contractors moves to EPC
The city council committee responsible for waste collection has failed to make a decision on new garbage and recycling contracts, leaving it up to Mayor Brian Bowman's inner circle to approve a deal that would see the end of Emterra service in Winnipeg.
Emterra has been collecting residential garbage across the city and recycling from most of the city since 2012. Progressive Waste Solutions, the company formerly known as BFI, handles the rest of the recycling collection.
A report before council recommends both companies be replaced by two other firms. The city is poised to award Miller Waste Systems a seven-year contract to collect garbage and recyclables in an area that corresponds to the northwest half of Winnipeg, while GFL Environmental would collect waste in the southeast half.
The proposed contracts would run from Oct. 1, 2017, to Jan. 31, 2025. Initially, they would cost the city $24.8 million a year.
No fewer than five members of council — Ross Eadie (Mynarski), Shawn Dobson (St. Charles), Jason Schreyer (Elmwood-East Kildonan), Russ Wyatt (Transcona) and Matt Allard (St. Boniface) — oppose the contracts on the basis the city did not take more time to consider conducting some waste collection in house, using members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500.
They want the city to hold off on a decision until the city further explores in-house collection. They were backed up by CUPE 500 president Gord Delbridge, who appeared before the water and waste committee to state the union is considering legal options if the city does not reconsider.
Since Eadie and Dobson make up one half of the committee — and a majority vote is required to approve motions — the committee could not reach an agreement about the contracts on Monday, even after three and a half hours of presentations, discussions and debate.
The committee got hung up in a 2-2 vote, with committee chairman Brian Mayes (St. Vital) and Coun. Jenny Gerbasi (Fort Rouge) voting in favour of the contracts, while Dobson and Eadie voted against them.
Dobson said he wanted to know how the city came up with a business case to continue purely private waste collection without speaking to the union. He said he lost confidence in the city's ability to award a waste-collection contract and tried to convince his committee colleagues to compel the city auditor to look into the city's request for proposals for a new private contractor.
Eadie told acting water-and-waste director Moira Geer he wants more evidence that private collection is more effective. Geer said in-house collection would cost 20 to 25 per cent more, based on data that include estimates from the Winnipeg Fleet Management Agency, which would be required to purchase and maintain trucks if the city pursued in-house collection.
Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) expressed annoyance with the councillors, suggesting they should have come forward with their concerns in May, when the city when the city issued a request for proposals for companies interested in bidding on the work.
Mayes argued the city must move forward with the contracts now to ensure Miller and GFL have as much time as possible to prepare to begin collecting waste in Winnipeg. Mayes said it was a "gong show" when Emterra only had seven months to prepare before it began collecting waste in 2012.
The contracts now move on to executive policy committee next week without a recommendation. There is no EPC meeting this week because Mayor Brian Bowman and council finance chairman Marty Morantz (Charleswood-Tuxedo) are meeting with bond raters in New York City.
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