Duane Hicks
In order to reduce recycling costs, the town will look into the possibility of having compactor bins replace the unmanned recycle bins located on Sixth Street West.
Council received a report, entitled “Vol. No. 7—Northern Ontario: A Study of the Optimization of the Blue Box Material Processing System in Ontario,” at its regular meeting Monday night, which indicates Fort Frances will remain a transfer station for either single stream or co-mingled blue box recyclables with no consideration given to becoming a material recovery facility (MRF).
In the future, a state-of-the-art MRF will be built in Thunder Bay, meaning that eventually recyclables from here will be transferred there for processing instead of Winnipeg, Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown noted in a report.
The town, however, can explore being more cost-effective in the way it recycles. Brown reported $12 million is available from Waste Diversion Ontario’s Continuous Improvement Fund to help municipalities reduce recycling costs or increase waste diversion.
He proposed the town apply to have a cost analysis done of the present recycle drop-off depot to determine if it would be more cost-effective to have one or two compactor bins there instead of the current bins.
The compactor bins would crush recyclables, meaning the bins would have to be emptied less often.
Council agreed execute a request for expression of interest (REOI) to complete a cost analysis of the existing unmanned recyclables depot to determine if it is feasible that one or two compactor bins be installed in 2014.
Also at Monday night’s meeting, council:
•appointed Nick Wihnan to the Citizen of the Year committee for a term ending Nov. 30, 2014;
•denied a request from Leroy Carpenter re: sale of property legally described as Pt HB RES PCL 8372;
•approved a purchase card expense for Fort Frances CAO Mark McCaig in the amount of $134.34 (this was for a meeting with solicitor J. Morse on March 22, 2013 and a retirement luncheon with Rick Hallam and Planning and Development staff on March 29, 2013);
•reimbursed Mayor Roy Avis for an entertainment expense in the amount of $30.74 (this was for a lunch meeting April 4 with new councillor Doug Kitowski);
•referred a request from Scott Armstrong, re: approval for operation of a taxi business in the Town of Fort Frances, to the Planning and Development executive committee for its recommendation;
•referred a request from the Rainy River Vet Services Committee, re: a Vet Assistance Trust Fund contribution, to the Administration and Finance executive committee for its recommendation;
•agreed to a request from Riverside Health Care Facilities, Inc. re: to proclaim May 6-12 as “Nurses Week” in the Town of Fort Frances;
•agreed to a request from the Canadian Dermatology Association to proclaim May 6 as “Light It Orange—Melanoma Monday” and June 3-9 as “25th National Sun Awareness Week” in the Town of Fort Frances;
•agreed to a request from the Salvation Army to proclaim May as “Red Shield Month” in the Town of Fort Frances;
Also at last night’s meeting, council:
•passed a bylaw to authorize a lease with respect to certain municipal property at 501 Sixth St. W.;
•passed a bylaw to authorize the signing of an employment agreement with Gary Rogozinski as caretaker of Sunny Cove Camp.
•received a request from the Fort Frances Power Corp. board of directors’ personnel selection committee for recommendations to fill board vacancies (council recommended Mayor Avis, Deane Cunningham, and Doug McCaig for three-year terms starting May 1, 2013); and
•approved a request from Legion Br. #29 to use the Church Street and Veterans Avenue parking lot for Colour Party school on May 11-12 (if weather does not co-operate, council will make a public relations donation equal to the rental fee for the Ice For Kids cement surface or the Memorial Sports Centre auditorium so the Legion can use those as alternative sites).
