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 photo

Al 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.”

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