CF Council rejects plan to revamp Wemp Road and Road 38 waste site hours

Craig Bakay | Jan 19, 2022

It’s back to the drawing board for Central Frontenac Waste and Recycling Committee after Council rejected a plan to change hours of operation at the Wemp Road and Road 38 transfer stations at its regular (online) meeting Jan. 11.

In a recorded vote (5-4 against), Coun. Victor Heese and Tom Dewey (both committee members), Coun. Bill MacDonald and Mayor Frances Smith voted in favour of the proposal. The committee was charged with coming back with a new proposal and Public Works Manager Tyson Myers tasked with putting a report on the Township website for public comment.

Currently, the Wemp Road location is open Monday, Friday and Saturday mornings as well as Tuesday and Sunday afternoons. The Road 38 location is open Monday, Friday and Saturday afternoons as well as Tuesday and Sunday mornings.

Both locations are operated by a single attendant.

Under the new proposal, Wemp Road would have been open all day Monday, Friday and Sunday while Road 38 would have been open all day Tuesday and Saturday.

MacDonald pointed out that this would have resulted in Road 38 having half a day less of open time and Wemp Road half a day more open time.

Myers said the current situation presents several drawbacks in that the attendant opens up one location in the morning, closes it at noon and has to relocate to the other site (15.9 kilometers away, 13 minutes) and have it up and running for residents by 1 p.m.

“This only allows the attendant half an hour for lunch and requires a half hour overtime pay,” Myers said in his report. “The attendant is also required to visit the Township office to complete cash transactions and collect garbage bags for both sites during the half hour lunch.”

The attendant also has to light and extinguish warming fires in a wood stove in the shed at each site during winter.

He said having a full day closed is also better for hauling bins away.

“One alternative would be another $60,000 salary,” he said.

Heese said: “There are some things that can’t get done in half a day.

“People are still not putting things in the right bin and the attendant has to pull some things out.”

Coun. Nicki Gowdy said that she’d received 70 comments on the proposed new hours and “only two were in favour of the proposed new hours.

“Is roadside dumping something we’ll have to deal with again.”

Coun. Brent Cameron said for residents in the Oak Flats area, a trip to the Road 38 site is 18-25 minutes, and double that for Wemp Road. He said getting the Olden site takes longer than going to the Cataraqui Centre in Kingston.

“And if you’re working, Tuesdays are out of the question,” he said. “So it looks like we’d be asking people to plan their Sundays around a dump run.”

Praise for staff over needles

During the Mayor’s remarks section of the meeting, Mayor Frances Smith praised Township staff as well as the Family Health Team for their work on covid vaccination clinics.

“The last one was three days long and we had more than 1,500 people including many from Ottawa, Perth and Smiths Falls,” she said. “We’ve had 10 clinics in all (including one flu shot clinic).”

Maintenance to continue at Burney Point Road

Council approved continuing year-round maintenance of Burney Point Road and spending $29,000 for some improvements include gravel and a turnaround.

Several councillors balked at the idea of spending that much money.

“If this was a new development, we’d be asking the developer to pay for it,” said Coun. Phillip Smith.

“But we wouldn’t get it up to minimum municipal standards for $30,000,” said Public Works Manager Tyson Myers.

Coun. Nicki Gowdy wondered if this would set a precedent.

“Are there others who will come out of the woodwork wanting this for their road?” she said.

“We may have to do others,” said Mayor Frances Smith. “But in this case, all a judge is going to look at is ‘you’ve been maintaining it for years.’”

“And, there is a significant contribution in land,” said Coun. Bill MacDonald.

Parham Ag gets $20,000 from Trillium Fdn.

Diana Meeks and Richard Benn of the Parham Agricultural Society appeared as a delegation to Council to announce the Society has been awarded a grant of just under $20,000 from the Ontario Trillium Foundation for operation of the Parham Fair.

Slow down in Parham

Council passed a bylaw to reduce speed on Road 38 and Wagerville Road to 50 kph from 60 kph through the hamlet of Parham.