District of Squamish council agreed to support - in principle - the creation of a new solid waste manager following a closed-door discussion at the committee of the whole meeting Tuesday (Feb. 9).
Acting engineering manager Brian Barnett presented council with a solid waste strategy, taking into account Whistler's use of the local landfill, with Bryan Raiser in the position of acting mayor.
Barnett emphasized the importance of dealing with the landfill in a timely manner and said a specialized manager with expertise on the issue is critical.
"Waste disposal is really an urgent issue here in Squamish. The landfill is quickly reaching capacity and does not meet provincial regulations or standards for public health and environmental standards, so those points really need to be addressed," Barnett said.
The district has been considering various landfill expansion proposals that would give Squamish's dump an extra 15 years of life if it takes in only the local 15,000 tons of waste a year, or an extra eight years of life with the 16,000 annual tons Whistler puts in, for which the resort pays $1.5 million in tipping fees.
Under the regional solid waste management agreement, Squamish is obliged to take in waste from local communities - Pemberton, Britannia Beach, Furry Creek and Pine Crest add a total of 2,855 tons a year - however there is flexibility in this arrangement, which can be addressed with a new waste management plan, said Barnett.
Barnett made his case for the creation of a new waste management position, saying there's considerable work ahead to draft such a plan.
"This is a major overhaul of the solid waste services that are provided by the District of Squamish. So we're not looking at a tweak, we're looking at some significant steps forwards in terms of overall solid waste management."
While on a district contract for 18 months, the new manager would oversee the landfill upgrade as well as the revision of the solid waste disposal agreement.
Municipal chief administrative officer Kevin Ramsay emphasized creating the new position would be the most cost effective way the municipality could deal with solid waste.
"The purpose to hiring a manager was to reduce our overall costs by having it done in house," Ramsay said. "Currently we don't have the resources to start on this vertical expansion unless we want to hire a consultant at a costly rate."
Coun. Patricia Heintzman argued creating the position is a necessity for the district.
"In my mind, it's absolutely a position that's needed if we're actually going to succeed in re-thinking how we're going to deal with waste."
Coun. Paul Lalli moved to defer the issue to a future budget discussion, and moved to defer the creation of a solid waste utility to a separate committee of the whole meeting.
Coun. Corinne Lonsdale said in the past, the district has always considered the creation of new position in closed-door meetings since it's a personnel matter, and suggested the remainder of this discussion be closed.
After a closed-door discussion, council resumed an open meeting to unanimously agree to several staff recommendations, including the creation of a new position.
Council supported an immediate upgrade to the landfill with consideration for the acceptance of waste from Whistler.
