Lakeshore and LaSalle vote against regional garbage pick-up for Essex County

As organic waste collection becomes a requirement, the County of Essex is revisiting its garbage pick-up with two more municipalities voting against a regional approach.

Councils in Lakeshore and LaSalle voted on the idea of uploading waste collection to the county, regionalizing the service Tuesday night. Both councils voted against staff recommendations, mainly due to a lack of concrete numbers around potential savings.

“With the unknowns that you are presenting before me, it's like you baked a pie without the apples,” LaSalle Coun. Terry Burns said.

LaSalle’s director of finance explained dollar figures are near impossible to draft at this stage. Still, he and his counterparts in six other municipalities around the county, expected regionalization would have allowed for savings.

The county needed four of the seven municipalities to support the idea, but in the end, only three backed the proposal – Leamington, Amherstburg and Tecumseh.

Those deciding votes from councillors in Lakeshore and LaSalle leave the path forward uncertain.

“The bylaw at the county actually still exists, basically in abeyance until decisions at the local level change and we get a majority,” said County of Essex CAO Sandra Zwiers.

“So if at any point after this evening, pending your decision here, the municipalities that voted in opposition could change their mind in reverse and as soon as we have four of the seven, which represent more than 50 per cent of the electors, the county bylaw then automatically comes into effect.”