Thunder Bay city council to receive services profile before budget talks

Just before city councillors in Thunder Bay, Ont., will start to debate the 2019 municipal budget, a review of city services will land on their desks.

The report, to be prepared by city manager Norm Gale was requested by Mayor Bill Mauro Monday night. He said in a memo to council that there is, "an interest in understanding and better communicating the range of services delivered by the City of Thunder Bay."

The timing of the report would allow councillors to see what services the city offers, their cost, as well as what is mandated by the province, and what is a non-essential service.

"There's been discussion amongst some of us individually, I can tell you from the first meetings that I had with city manager Gale after the election and long before I was sworn in, around issues related to the services the community provides and the cost of those services," said Mauro.

"I think it makes complete sense, especially for the new councillors going into budget, they have some sense of the services we provide and the cost of those services so the intent of the resolution is to have some of that information in front of council as a whole, but especially for the newer members."

Some on council questioned the timing of the report, which could be seen as helping decide what services are important, and which are not, just before council starts its budget deliberations.

"With respect, this was just put on my desk this evening, as an item of new business," said Coun. Andrew Foulds, questioning why there was a rush needed to deliver the report.

Deputy City Clerk Krista Power said the challenge is to prepare the report before the budget in early January 2019.

"Those are artificial timelines that we've put it to determine the urgency," said Foulds, noting he was concerned about the timing of the report.

"One of the urgencies is related to the budget process, and again, the budget process coming to a conclusion at the end of January, so making decisions that could potentially affect the budget, that end of budget term is a decision that's already made and already in place," said Power.

The budget documents will come out on January 3, 2019, with the first budget deliberation scheduled for January 15.

Recycling contract

Council also deliberated for a while, including a portion behind closed doors, on renewing the recycling contract with GFL Environmental.

Mayor Mauro had concerns about the cost of the contract doubling to nearly $2.6M for 18 months of service. He asked to go into closed session to see if there was a way to bring down the cost.

Before heading into closed session, council had to figure out under which provision it was allowed to go into closed session. Deputy Clerk Powers suggested an identifiable individual, but legal suggested the auspices of contract negotiation would be more acceptable.

Once council determined how it would be able to hold a closed door meeting, council went in camera for a few minutes, returning to approve the cost.

Jason Sherband, the city's manager of solid waste and recycling services, told council the new pricing structure is a reality for all communities across Ontario, with the market for recycling products changing. It means it's tougher to sell recycled materials on the commodities market.

He said the cost for recycling services will also not go down in the immediate future.

Sherband said with the 18-month contract extension, he hopes the city will have time to properly negotiate a new contract, which could perhaps allow more recyclable material to get picked up in the city.

The contract had to be approved by the newly-elected council, due to its value, and the previous council being unable to approve a contract over a value of $50,000.

He said at this time, GFL Environmental is the only company in the city to have the facilities to process recyclables.

The new contract comes into effect Jan. 1, 2019.