ANNAPOLIS COUNTY – The municipality and Valley Waste appear to be at odds, and Annapolis County residents are at risk of getting dumped.
The future of curbside waste collection services in Annapolis County was called into question Aug. 1 after a notice to residents was posted on the Valley Waste Resource-Management Authority’s website.
“The Municipality of the County of Annapolis (Annapolis County) will no longer receive curbside collection of garbage, recyclables and compost by Valley Waste as a result of non-payment for services since March 2018,” Valley Waste’s notice to residents reads.
The statement said Valley Waste would stop providing residential curbside garbage, recycle and compost collection in the county effective Aug. 18.
As of shortly before noon Aug. 2, Valley Waste’s communications manager, Andrew Garrett, confirmed that plans to discontinue service remained in place.
“We can’t speak to how service will be provided after Aug. 18, but it will be the responsibility of Annapolis County. The service will no longer be provided by the Valley Waste-Resource Management Authority after Aug. 17,” he said in an e-mail.
The authority will continue to offer curbside collection services in Annapolis Royal, Middleton and Bear River First Nation. Valley Waste’s transfer stations in Lawrencetown and Kentville will be available to Annapolis County residents, but tipping fees are in place at these facilities.
In a question-and-answer styled document relating to the notice to discontinue service, Valley Waste alleged that the Municipality of the County of Annapolis owes the authority more than $700,000 for services provided between April and July.
RCMP involvement?
A statement posted on the Municipality of the County of Annapolis website at noon Aug. 2 briefly addresses the non-payment claims.
“Valley Waste is aware a cheque was sent and received from The Municipality of the County of Annapolis to pay for garbage collection and disposal; comments that have been made in social media are not accurate,” the statement reads.
The prepared statement goes on to promise that garbage collection services will still be provided within the county.
“It is a matter of public interest; Annapolis County assures garbage collection will continue as usual.”
In brief conversations with Kings County News Aug. 2, Annapolis County chief administrative officer John Ferguson repeatedly maintained that the municipality’s position is that all services will continue as usual.
Updates relating to the waste collection issue will be released through prepared statements issued on the municipality’s website, Ferguson said.
“The matter has been referred to the RCMP and we’re not going to discuss anything further at this time,” he added.
A garbage collection statement posted to the municipality’s website Aug. 1 said the County of Annapolis contacted the RCMP after receiving a piece of correspondence from Valley Waste July 26.
Ferguson declined when asked to release that piece of correspondence Aug. 2.
“We don’t want to do anything that would prejudice the investigation,” he said.
Provincial RCMP spokesperson Dal Hutchinson confirmed that a complaint was received July 31, and said police are looking into the matter.
Waste removal continuing elsewhere
Valley Waste, formed in 1999 as a result of an inter-municipal service agreement, is continuing service in the towns of Annapolis Royal, Berwick, Kentville, Middleton and Wolfville, Bear River First Nation and the Municipality of the County of Kings.
A statement Garrett shared on behalf of Valley Waste Aug. 2 said the County of Annapolis served notice to withdraw from the inter-municipal service agreement with Valley Waste in April.
“Our goal was, and still is, to work collaboratively with Annapolis County as they exit the service agreement,” said Peter Muttart, mayor of the Municipality of the County of Kings and spokesperson for the six other municipal owners of Valley Waste, in the statement.
“Ultimately, the service agreement allows parties to withdraw and this is the decision Annapolis County council has made.”
In an interview with the Annapolis Valley Register in early July, Annapolis County Warden Timothy Habinski said accountability and transparency in deciding how public funds are spent is at the crux of the issue for the municipality.
“What the county is questioning is the processes by which Valley Waste has been committing municipalities to very large, long-term expenditures,” said Habinski.
Still no cash
Barry Corbin, vice-chairman of the board for Valley Waste, said a cheque settling the debt owed by the County of Annapolis had yet to be received as of 2 p.m. Aug. 2.
“A cheque in the amount of approximately $524,000 was sent to the lawyer representing the other parties to be held in trust but that cheque came with conditions and terms that the other parties could not agree to,” said Corbin in a phone interview.
“In fact, they would have been contrary to some of the operating conditions of the inter-municipal service agreement and just could not be approved.”
Valley Waste is not aware of any reason for the municipality to seek RCMP involvement in the matter following the correspondence received from Valley Waste in late July, Corbin said.
“We have no idea what that is. We only learned about that through the same way… everyone else did. They posted it on their website.”
The call to discontinue service was made by Valley Waste’s board amid mounting financial pressures.
“We were actually in a financial bind and the other parties came forth and changed some things in terms of paying their fees ahead of schedule to ensure that… Valley Waste continues to operate and provide service to its residents,” said Corbin.
Previous attempts to negotiate have been unsuccessful, but the waste management agency is still interested in reaching an agreement that allows for the continuation of residential collection services in Annapolis County.
“We’re still very anxious to be able to negotiate and to do whatever we need to do to ensure that service (can) continue to be offered to Annapolis County,” said Corbin.
