In another step towards the implementation of the new “bag tag” system for garbage pickup here, town residents should receive their five introductory tags in the mail by the end of next week.
Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown said the tags started being mailed out to property owners Tuesday.
The property owner will be responsible to distribute these “bag tags” to any tenants, Brown reiterated.
The town has had 350,000 of these bright orange tags printed up.
If council, as expected, passes the new waste management bylaw as it currently reads, subsequent “bag tags” will be sold for $1 each. They’ll be available at the Fort Frances Public Library, Memorial Sports Centre, and Civic Centre at first, with other locations possibly to follow.
Local businesses will be asked if they’d be willing to sell tags in the future, said Brown, adding Safeway already has expressed interest in doing so at no cost to the town.
Brown expects “bag tags” to be implemented starting Monday, May 31, but this month will be all about going through the process of gathering public input and fine-tuning the bylaw before council votes on it.
Brown noted two public meetings will be held Tuesday, May 18—one at 2 p.m. and the other at 7 p.m.—at the Civic Centre.
At these meetings, the public will receive first-hand knowledge of the new user fees and waste management system, as well as have an opportunity to provide feedback.
Brown noted he can think of three aspects of the proposed waste management bylaw (which was outlined in a flyer inserted in the April 26 edition of the Daily Bulletin, and is still available at the Civic Centre and the front desk at the Fort Frances Times), that will need to be considered, and possibly altered, before the bylaw is passed.
These are:
•allowing resident to put out receptacles (garbage bags) for pickup without them being in a Type ‘A’ or ‘B’ container;
•allowing multi-residential properties to have tenants put out their garbage individually as opposed to collectively (and thus be treated like a residential as opposed to commercial property for the purposes of pickup); and
•whether or not businesses run out of residences should be considered residential or commercial for the purposes of garbage pickup.
Then on May 25, a special meeting of council will be scheduled for a reading of the new waste management bylaw, at which time any adjustments will be made (if deemed necessary) as a result of public feedback from the two meetings May 18.
Once any adjustments are made, a third and final reading will be made. If passed, the “bag tag” system then will take effect May 31.
If the “bag tag” system goes ahead as currently planned (five introductory tags and $1/tag thereafter), it is expected to generate $120,140 in revenue in 2004.
The total cost to operate the waste management system in Fort Frances in 2004 is expected to be $203,761 (which includes operation of the landfill site, collection of waste, and recycling services).
The balance of $83,044 is subsidized through taxes.
In 2005 and beyond, however, the “bag tag” system is expected to raise about $252,000 in revenue.
This amount not only should fund garbage pickup and other aspects of the waste management system, but leave some funds to expand what the town can do with waste, such as develop a community compost site.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
