City revisiting bin collection concerns
By Lethbridge Herald on December 16, 2021.
Council has asked administration to present a strategy to resolve concerns over relocation of bin pickup for some residents. Herald file photoAl Beeber – Lethbridge Herald
Lethbridge City council is addressing citizen concerns about the relocation of pickup for the black and blue bins.
Council on Tuesday passed a motion presented by councillor John Middleton-Hope calling on city administration to present a strategy to resolve concerns to a future Standing Policy Committee meeting, a strategy which will include public engagement and then report to a Civic Works SPC on a process that incorporates options “that are satisfactory to a broader constituency,” read the motion.
Middleton-Hope brought the matter up to council due to concerns raised by voters in part during the recent civic election.
The motion stated that many people in older neighbourhoods without front driveway access have problems with the relocation of the pickup location and want the city to re-address the matter.
“We’ve all received the complaints, we’ve all received the notes, and the letters and the emails. Yes, London Road area is one of the areas that has expressed concerns but there are individuals in other areas of the city that have also expressed concerns with the current strategy of the city,” Middleton-Hope said in response to a question.
Councillor Jeff Carlson asked if the process had already been done, or are there new solutions or new discussions that could be considered.
Carlson said previous council had “quite a lot of discussions and presentations and interactions with the waste and recycling folks over this. We had presentations from different neighbourhood groups, et cetera. Will there be new considerations that could be considered?”
General manager of Waste and Recycling Joel Sanchez said “we are going to go back and look at what we have done in the past.
“The idea now is to go back and put a proposal and a plan in place in order to create a strategy to resolve these citizen concerns. In the particular case of London Road, we had our meeting with council and the London Road Neighbourhood Association awhile ago and the aim is to, before any other changes are going to be implemented, we’re going to go back and engage with the neighbourhood and try to make sure we get the feedback and present the options… we’re going to bring those new ideas to council so that council can see those and make a recommendation on this issue.”
Councillor Jenn Schmidt-Rempel asked Sanchez if the City is looking to engage all citizens, including those who have had pickup moved to the front, would the City consider rescinding that move and moving it back to alley pickup if there was enough feedback.
Sanchez said “at this point, we’re looking to any further move we’re doing we’re going to assess and engage with residents. As we presented it to council in May this year, the move that we have done to date we will be open to engage and talk to residents,” adding that for the most part in areas where pickup was moved to front, it has been successful.
“But we will look into all the options and those residents that are still affected by the changes will have an opportunity to engage with us.”
Follow @albeebHerald on Twitter
15-14
Engage and the senior administration of the city are 3 words I’ve rarely seen let alone in the same sentence. Successful and moving bins to front pickup is another. I called the city when they moved pickup to front and let’s just to say engaging is a word I wouldn’t use to describe what I dealt with. I haven’t talked to a single person who has liked this decision.
Here is a little story. A friend on the south side phoned in as his recycle bin was not picked up. He and five others in the same lane. He phoned around 2 pm to inquire if they had been missed. The dispatcher suggested he call back around 4 if it hadn’t been picked up. He did and was told by a different person that everyone had gone home. So, was he brushed off by the first dispatcher who didn’t want to deal with it or was the message passed on and no one came back. It gets better. The next day a city employee arrives to empty the bin and he has this conversation. There are six bins that were missed in the lane but the employee has been “instructed” to only empty his bin and one other bin as they were the two that had phoned in about being missed. The employee was told not to empty the ones who had NOT complained. Joel should engage that.
Or the person who works across the street at the dayhome pulls within one inch of your bin after you leave for work. Result your bin is missed, happens at least once a month.
Ok, maybe we’ll keep this council at least for a little while longer. But it’s the City Hall admins that make the final call on this stuff, sadly.
The move in our neighbourhood has created safety concerns and a noticeable decrease in efficiency. We had no consultation prior to the move from back to front other than a note left in the mailbox stating the move would take place the following week. I have brought up multiple safety concerns with the front pick-up including; driving on the sidewalk, coming within inches to parked vehicles, close call with children playing on the sidewalk, and backing up multiple times to achieve front pick up. Luckily the waste and recycling department came up with a great solution;) we now have a rear load truck with 2 workers to collect carts in the front.