WHITE ROCK — A special council meeting to deal with the city’s garbage issue will be held April 7.
Councillors Helen Fathers and Dave Chesney sent a request Friday (March 27) that Baldwin call the meeting “to deal with Issues raised by the community on the solid waste decision," under section 126 of the Community Charter.
According to the passage, “The mayor may call a special council meeting at his or her discretion.†If no arrangements are made within 24 hours or the meeting is not set to be held within seven days, two council members are able to call a meeting themselves.
Fathers said she and Chesney decided to call the meeting after learning the mayor had met with a group of residents on Wednesday regarding the waste collection issue and directed staff to report on some of the items brought up.
“Once a council decision has been made you can’t really direct staff to go and report on other stuff, so I thought it really should be a council decision in a council forum,†she said.
“We don’t have a meeting until April 13, and time is of the essence, so under the Community Charter I’ve asked the mayor to call a special meeting, a public one, not in camera.â€
The waste collection issue has been a source of growing discontent in the community and comes in the wake of a decision by the city to end waste collection for multi-family units come July. Residents upset with the change claim they were not consulted before the decision was made in a closed meeting in December, and would like to continue with the service being run by the city.
“There’s just so much angst out there and we have to clear it up,†said Fathers. “If we had a council meeting this week I could have just stuck it on the agenda but we don’t until the 13th.â€
The city is also exploring the possibility of contracting out waste collection for single-family residential units, and recently sought bids from potential contractors.
The special meeting will take place on April 7 at 1pm at city hall.
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