Dawson Mayor Wayne Potoroka admits there have been some minor issues in the two months since the town has taken over waste collection, but says overall the transition has been fairly successful.
“In short it’s been going well,” he said, acknowledging that there have been a few cases of residential waste — including his own one week — not being picked up as scheduled.
Once public works staff have been notified that a home was missed during regular pickup, arrangements are made for the garbage to be picked up, he said.
The municipality took on its own waste collection in November after negotiations broke down with the former contractor for waste collection, Ed’s Repair and Services.
The town was proposing a three-year deal where Ed’s Repair and Services would continue to be paid $120 an hour for both residential and commerical waste pickup in town.
It would have been the same rate the town was paying the contractor since 2005, but the deal would have also reduced the frequency of commercial-waste pickup from unlimited pickup to a set weekly schedule. As Potoroka explained at the time the schedule was proposed to better estimate costs as well as to better control and reduce the amount of waste going into the landfill.
“We have to stop producing as much waste as we are,” he said.
An exit clause, reporting requirements as well as insurance and WCB requirements were also outlined in the proposal.
With a deal not being reached, the town opted to take over garbage collection.
Potoroka said he’s interested to see a cost comparison a few months down the road showing the difference between what the town was paying a contractor and what it is costing to do the pickup itself.
While there have been some cases of garbage bins being missed in the first weeks of the town taking over pickup, he recommended anyone who is missed call the town so public works staff can be informed and rectify the situation.
Contact Stephanie Waddell at stephanie.waddell@yukon-news.com