A union delegation and some city councillors expressed strong opposition to the idea
Sault Ste. Marie city councillors tonight voted against looking into possible privatization of the city’s landfill.
Council voted against a resolution that would have sought proposals from businesses interested in managing landfill operations and building a biosolids and single-source organics composting facility.
Green for Life Environmental (GFL) had made an unsolicited proposal to the city, offering to take over those operations.
Tom Vair, the city’s chief administrative officer, said GFL’s proposal could save the city between $39 million and $122 million over the 25-year term of the proposed deal.
Vair said city staff felt GFL’s idea needed to be fully investigated, “given the level of savings that was potentially proposed.”
The city would have retained ownership of the landfill site at 402 Fifth Line East.
But the idea was strongly opposed tonight by a trade union delegation and some councillors.
“City staff have run the landfill for decades,” said Mark Harrington, president of Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 3, representing the city’s public works employees.
“Skill and dedication. They know the site, the systems and the community. They show up on time, respond to emergencies, carry institutional knowledge that’s not brought in by a contract,” Harrington said.
“CUPE Local 3 insists on ironclad protections, guaranteed offers of employment to existing workers, equivalent pay and benefits, enforceable environmental and performance standards with independent audits, transparent public reporting and contract terms that allow the city to terminate and resume operations without undue cost or delay.”
Ward 5 Coun. Corey Gardi described GFL’s idea as “a compelling financial argument” and “a rare opportunity to significantly unburden our municipal balance sheet.”
“However, I feel a deal of this magnitude, one that locks in our waste strategy for the next 25 years, requires more than just financial verification. It requires community input.”
“For this reason, I am not going to support moving forward with this request for proposals,” Gardi said.
Gardi then introduced a motion that would have deferred council’s decision on privatization for 90 days to allow completion of a public interest study as well as an independent evaluation of long-term socioeconomic impacts.
His motion was defeated six to five, so councillors then voted on the original motion to issue a request for proposals for privatization.
That motion was also defeated, slamming the brakes on GFL’s wish to manage our landfill and build a composting facility for biosolids and single-source organics.
Voting against looking into privatization were Couns. Angela Caputo, Corey Gardi, Lisa Vezeau-Allen, Matthew Scott, Sandra Hollingsworth, Stephan Kinach and Sonny Spina.
Voting for possible privatization were Mayor Matthew Shoemaker and Couns. Luke Dufour, Marchi Bruni, and Ron Zagordo.
Ward 2 Coun. Lisa Vezeau-Allen agreed with Coun. Gardi that public consultations were needed on privatization, especially environmental groups.
“Why are we even discussing this?” asked Ward 3’s Angela Caputo.
“It’s not because city staff have ever believed that privatizing was worth looking into, or because the public has stated they wanted this.
“As far back as 2015 the plan has always been to retain operations of the landfill as a core municipal service. We are discussing this because a for-profit corporation issued a proposal to take over our landfill operations.
“There has not been consultation with the public to get us to this point. Consultation, in my opinion, should come first. When discussing this multigenerational decision, we are skipping this critical step in the process, if we decided to move this to RFP today,” Caputo said.
Ward 1 Coun. Sonny Spina also argued for more public consultation.
“This is not roadside collection that we’re talking about,” Spina said. “This is the privatization of something that I see as a core city function, something that we do for the City of Sault Ste Marie, and that is expected of us from the citizens of Sault Ste Marie.”
CAO Vair told councillors that the current landfill has two and a half years of useful life remaining, but an environmental assessment is currently underway, with approval of additional capacity expected later this year.
Ward 1 Coun. Sandra Hollingsworth suggested the city reach out to surrounding communities like Echo Bay or Desbarats to have our trash landfilled there.
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