The Town of Canmore has gotten inside the bearproof garbage bin with the Town of Banff as part of the latter’s plan to start hauling its own municipal solid waste to the landfill.
Banff council decided earlier this year that its operations department would explore the potential savings of bringing trucking and tipping fees at landfills in-house and approved the plan in July.
But Banff was part of a contract, along with Lake Louise and Canmore, to have garbage shipped and tipped by a private contractor, which was a contract managed by the Bow Valley Waste Management Commission.
Without Banff as part of that overall contract, which was up for renewal at the end of the year, Canmore was put in the position of having to decide what direction it would take with respect to its own municipal solid waste.
Manager of public works Andreas Comeau was in front of elected officials on Sept. 15 and recommended Canmore enter a municipal solid waste long haul trucking agreement with Banff effective Jan. 1.
“The current agreement we have right now was originally commissioned and orchestrated by the Bow Valley Waste Management Commission seven years ago,” Comeau said. “Generally, I would say from what I hear from operators is the contractor provides great service, is easy to work with and generally we do not have any concerns.”
The business case for Banff to pursue bringing the service in-house contemplated Lake Louise and Canmore joining them – although Banff would be the municipality to shoulder all the risk – a selling point for Canmore council.
“We feel there is risk in providing this service or business,” Comeau said. “There are trucks on the road all months of the year and winter conditions can be challenging.
“The risk for equipment and staffing will not be shared by the Town of Canmore.”
The cost to Canmore for the service is set out at $109.67 a tonne in 2016 with a fuel surcharge permitted with documentation and annual adjustments related to inflation. The contract would be for five years with an option to extend for another five years.
The price per tonne represents the cost to transfer municipal solid waste and the tipping fee. Overall, it represents an eight per cent, or $29,620 decrease over budget for 2015. Comeau added Banff has secured the West Dried Meat Lake Regional Landfill in Camrose.
The current hauler provided an updated proposal for the contract days before the council meeting. They proposed a total transfer and tipping amount at $115 a tonne, which is a 3.5 per cent or $12,630 decrease from 2015. Boot’s Trucking, the contractor, hauls to the Pincher Creek landfill.
Mayor John Borrowman inquired about what would happen to Banff’s costs to provide the service if it ended up being higher than expected.
“The fee schedule is all we are responsible for,” Comeau said.
But the fact the contract was being recommended to go to Banff as a service provider as a sole source process was an issue for Coun. Ed Russell, who asked if council would be in violation of its sole sourcing agreement.
Chief administrative officer Lisa de Soto said the reason administration was asking for council approval is because of that very fact.
“Yes, in fact our purchasing policy would require us to go out to competitive bid,” she said. “If we are not following the purchasing policy we need council approval for that.”
She added the Municipal Government Act allows the Town to enter into joint municipal service agreements.
Russell remained concerned not only about whether Canmore sole sourced the contract without also making sure it complied with the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) between Alberta and B.C. He put forward a motion to postpone the decision until administration could look into it further.
However, Comeau said Banff was waiting on Canmore to sign on to the service before it ordered its equipment trailers and without the neighbouring municipality on board it would change the order or delay delivery. With the service set to start Jan. 1 – he added the current contractor indicated it could continue operating into the New Year until Banff was ready.
Mayor John Borrowman said he recognized that inherent in the decision by council is the approval of sole sourcing the contract.
“I am also quite happy to support the motion,” he said. “It speaks to a regional collaborative approach and shared responsibilities in the Bow Valley.
“This is the Town of Banff and the Town of Canmore working together to find solutions that are better for our taxpayers.”
While the waste commission will no longer administer the hauling and tipping contract for the three municipalities as a result of the decisions Canmore and Banff have made, it still operates to provide regional waste management and run the Frances Cooke regional landfill.
That landfill is a class three facility, which means it does not accept household waste. The landfill functions mainly for receiving waste from construction and demolition of buildings.
Chair Paul Ryan said the most recent airspace inventory – which calculates how much space is left – indicated there are approximately 30 years left.
The commission negotiated the previous long haul contract for its member municipalities in 2012 for a cost savings estimated to be $326,342 over a three-year period, according to a report from Ryan to the commission board in August.
He indicated the commission was unaware of the desire by Banff to pursue the service in-house and no request was received over the last year to look at ways to create efficiencies.
The commission in 2002 negotiated the original contract with BFI at the request of its members and on two occasions the commission looked into taking the contract in-house.
When the BFI contract was to expire in 2012 the commission was informed that BFI would no longer accept municipal solid waste from the valley at its landfill and a new contract was put out for tender resulting in the current operator taking over the service.
