Saskatoon city council overrules administration, weekly garbage pickup to resume mid-May

On Wednesday, Saskatoon City Council did a full 180 on administration’s decision to extend bi-weekly pickup of garbage in the city, after hearing a lot of feedback from the public.

In a 6-5 vote, council reinstated weekly garbage collection which is set to roll out in mid-May.

On Tuesday, the city announced the suspension of weekly garbage pickup until further notice. The change to weekly pickup had been scheduled to switch over on May 1.

Coun. Darren Hill proposed a motion in a meeting Wednesday to change back to weekly pickup, effective May 1.

“We made a decision on the budget already,” Hill said prior to the vote. “We made it because of odor, because of potential pests close to riverbanks. And we debated that. What’s being asked now is to change that decision without council’s approval.”

Coun. Mairin Loewen, Hilary Gough, Sarina Gersher, Cynthia Block, and Mayor Charlie Clark voted against the motion.

Councillor Hill did voice his displeasure with the administration’s plan to change the original plan for weekly garbage pickup, and how it was announced Tuesday night.

“We have to get back to the state where council is providing the governance and the direction on some important decisions anymore. This is council’s job. Governance cannot be lost during this pandemic at this stage.

Coun. Troy Davies was the sixth and deciding vote, earlier in the meeting saying administration’s decision Tuesday night was a “communications nightmare.”

“Council had decided and debated several times (during) budget (deliberations) last year that as of May, garbage will go (back) to the weekly garbage pickup,” Davies told 650 CKOM Tuesday following the vote.

“That sparked a lot of debates in my ward. I had significant feedback immediately when this got out.”

Earlier in the meeting, city manager Jeff Jorgenson explained that year-over-year to date, residential garbage volume had increased by two percent. This past month though, volume was down one percent.

Issues with the change to weekly pickup centered around resources, the administration said. The city would need to hire additional workers, and the change would take a “minimum of four weeks.”

“Increasing staffing levels for weekly collections would add to personnel congestion and require extensive close-contact training in and around vehicles and equipment at a time when physical distancing is a priority,” said the city in the release Tuesday night.

“These measures will help to limit the number of unique exposures with potentially contaminated waste containers and help reduce the spread of the virus.”

A detailed report on this matter will be sent to council at the regular meeting at the end of the month.