With St. Albert’s new waste collection program just 12 weeks away from rolling out, Coun. Cam MacKay wants to explore a new option: contracting out the service.
MacKay made a motion Monday to have the city seek bids from private contractors to collect all or part of the city’s solid waste. He wants bids that show the cost of having the private sector handle 50 per cent and 100 per cent of the city’s waste collection. He also requested that the city itself report its own costs so council can do an apples-to-apples comparison.
“There’s no good reasons why we can’t do this,” MacKay told council Monday. “I think we owe it to our residents to look for the best possible options out there for garbage collection.”
Starting June 1, the city will initiate a waste collection program that will see every single-family home receive two plastic toters — one for organic waste and another for conventional garbage. The city recently awarded a contract for the pickup and disposal of organic waste. It’s also custom-ordered five automated garbage trucks that will handle all residential trash using city employees.
MacKay wants the request for proposals to be conditional on the purchase of the city’s new garbage trucks. He said the call for quotes could be worded such that the city could still stick with its original plan if that was the most cost-effective option. But he thinks the city could save some money by involving the private sector.
The previous council agreed to the new waste plan last June.
MacKay has been questioning the new program since he won his council seat in October. He backed off with his requests to explore private options after learning the city couldn’t back out of its $1.25-million contract to buy the garbage trucks. But he recently learned several private contractors would be interested in buying St. Albert’s new trucks and taking on the city’s waste collection, he said.
During a half-hour presentation to council, MacKay questioned the wisdom of providing all the services with city staff and equipment when most mid-sized municipalities use a combination of public and private delivery. Such a model worked fine for years in St. Albert, he said.
MacKay also alleged the city didn’t do a proper cost analysis prior to adopting the new plan.
Council wasn’t prepared to vote on MacKay’s motion, voting instead to delay a decision for two weeks so administration could prepare a rebuttal and councillors could find out more on their own.
“He’s made some statements that call into question some of the information that administration has provided and I think that they should be given an opportunity to respond,” said Coun. Wes Brodhead, who moved the two-week postponement.
Mayor Nolan Crouse said afterward that it was “fair game” for MacKay to explore cost savings but said “it’s too late” to change the plan.
“There are too many pieces of the puzzle that have been put in place,” Crouse said. “We’re at the 11th hour.”
The city has already approved the hiring of additional public works staff and has started communicating the new program to residents, Crouse said. He also made it clear he trusts that city administration did its due diligence last year when exploring options for the adoption of curbside organic pickup.
“I was convinced a year ago that was the right approach based on everything I’d heard,” Crouse said.
“There has to be something really compelling that is to sway me. I don’t know what that would be,” he added.
MacKay acknowledged that he may have trouble gaining support from his fellow councillors but argued his idea doesn’t seek to change the program.
“It’s not a big change,” he said. “It’s basically saying, let’s get some quotes.”
