North Bay city council is moving forward with a plan to have the Merrick Landfill operated in-house.
The day-to-day operation of the landfill is currently carried out by Bruman Construction at a yearly tab anywhere between $1.1 and $1.4 million. The city entered a six-year contract with the company which is set to expire at the end of 2021.
Karin Pratte, Senior Environment & Facilities Engineer gave a presentation to the Infrastructure and Operations Committee Tuesday evening, revealing the city could operate the day-to-day at the site for a yearly cost of around $1.1 million.
Over six years of operating in-house, the city could see savings of over $200,000 annually, according to Pratte.
The current contract with Bruman Construction pays the company on a per-tonne basis of waste. Pratte found that every couple of years, a large construction project saw large amounts of contaminated soil disposed of, which has cost a total of roughly $1.3 million.
The report also found that Bruman would occasionally rent out its machines to other capital projects around the city, which led to inefficiencies.
Pratte’s proposed plan would see an upfront investment of over $1.8 million for the purchase of new machines, including a compactor worth over $1 million. This would be funded through fleet and landfill reserves, which total over $2.6 million as of the end of 2020.
The in-house plan would also see six new personnel added to operate the landfill, which would cost around $547,000 per year.
In total, 52 percent of the proposed in-house operation would go toward personnel costs. 42 percent would fund equipment and road maintenance costs while the remaining three percent covers miscellaneous costs.
Pratte also pointed out that trash compaction would be done more efficiently in-house, which would extend the life of the landfill, which has roughly 17 years left of its lifespan.
“In landfill years, that’s not that long,” Pratte noted. “We are now at the point where we need to start thinking about what we’re going to do for the expansion of our landfill sites.”
Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins and Thunder Bay all operate their own landfills, Pratte also found.
Not all of council, however, was fully on-board with the city’s takeover of the Merrick Landfill.
Councillor Marcus Tignanelli took issue with the fact council has been “pigeonholed” in regards to options with the landfill, wondering if the operation could be contracted out for cheaper.
“It would have been nice to see this great report with another option,” he questioned.
David Euler, chief administrative officer, said Bruman had the most competitive offer at the time, which is still more expensive than the proposed in-house operation.
Councillor George Maroosis expressed concern over the fact that maintenance of machines may end up being pricier than what was projected, worrying about who will pay for additional expenses.
“It comes from the same pocket: the taxpayer’s,” he stated.
Maroosis, Tignanelli and councillor Mark King all voted against sending the report to council. The remaining council members all voted in favour of the plan.
If passed by council, preparations would begin almost immediately to purchase the necessary equipment in order to take over landfill operations by January 1, 2022.
