(file photo/paNOW Staff)

By Tyler Marr

A PROBLEM PILING UP

City eyes better cost monitoring of picking up abandoned trash

Jun 18, 2019 | 1:28 PM

From mattresses to refrigerators, tractor tires and sheds, many items seem to mysteriously grow legs and end up in back alleys around North Battleford.

As the issue of abandoned garbage continues to pile up, city administration polled city lawmakers on how they should proceed.

Lawmakers settled on continuing the current practice but asked administrators to more closely track the costs incurred and may decide to distribute the cost to tax payers utility bills down the road.

At Monday’s planning committee meeting, a report from the Director of Operations Stewart Schafer was brought forward for discussion, outlining the growth in call volumes to Community Safety Officers (CSO) and city hall to pick up garbage in alleys and on private property.

“We are in a quandary on what to do,” Schafer told council.

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Three options were pitched by administration. They included charging a nominal fee for those who ask for waste removal from private property; remain status quo, which sees CSOs investigate and city crews only remove trash they request be picked up at no charge to the homeowner; or for the city to follow Bylaw 1977, which essentially says too-bad-so-sad to homeowners, leaving them on the hook to cover the removal and cost.

The city’s road foreman said some months he has workers out upwards of five days picking litter in or grabbing random pieces of trash from back alleys. The last time costs were tracked for this, he said the price tag came in around $18,000 to $20,000.

During discussion, Coun. Greg Lightfoot suggested the city more closely track the cost incurred from picking up abandoned trash and share it among residents on their utility bills.

“If it is something that is going to be done for that utility, it should be charged out as a utility cost to all of the residents across the board,” he said.

While Coun. Kelli Hawtin didn’t mind the current approach, as she said it shouldn’t fall on the back of a homeowner to clean up large waste that isn’t their own, worried it ties up too many resources. She questioned if community dumping days, not dissimilar to household hazardous waste day or the leaf pickup, could curb the problem.

Though her colleagues appreciated the idea, said past investigations found much of the trash was coming from outside the city and this would do little to remedy the ailment.

Mayor Ryan Bater said he liked the current approach as “not everyone has the means to dispose of someone else’s waste.”

“If it is a washing machine and they don’t have a truck or can’t lift it, what are you supposed to do? By making them pay we are making them the victim of crime twice,” Bater said. “I know it takes resource but a clean city is worth the expense.”

Coun. Kent Lindgren asked if the CSO investigations ever amount to identifying offenders.

Administrators said they rarely find the culprit, even after digging through the bags for a power bill or letterhead with identifying information. The odd time it can be of assistance is if someone moved an appliance into the yard, it was reported, but the homeowner had the intention of taking it to the nuisance grounds at a later date, thus preventing a pickup.

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tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr