By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Northumberland County council’s Public Works Committee will be hearing from various departments about the feasibility of a Joint Operations Base, but the need for change of some kind was made clear from the first two presentations at Monday’s meeting – waste management and facilities maintenance.
Associate Director of Operations Adam McCue addressed waste management saying that, of Northumberland’s three Community Recycling Centres, the one in Bewdley could easily benefit the most from a JOB.
With the equivalent of 11 full-time staff, this CRC operates on the site of the now-closed Bewdley landfill, occupying all the space that is not former landfill – so there is no room for expansion.
It has one 35-year-old building, a mobile office trailer with washroom and an eight-year-old Quonset hut for household hazardous waste.
At peak times, traffic is backed up onto County Road 9 and badly congested within the site, especially given that visits to the site are up by 51% over the past decade. Their record this year is 548 vehicles in one day, and it is not unusual to get 500 in a day at peak times.
The site does not conform to accessibility legislation and there is no storm-water management.
“The overall result is a facility that struggles to meet existing operational needs, environmental regulations and public service expectations,” McCue said.
As the county’s population is growing by 1% a year, he added, “It does not have the capacity to handle existing and future demands.”
Without a JOB, the alternative is to construct a new CRC at an estimated cost of $5-million (including the purchase of land) with new buildings, weigh scales, interior roads, concrete bunkers and environmental controls.
With a JOB, there is the potential for streamlined operations and shared costs for maintenance, utilities, and potentially even equipment and staff. There are also the side benefits, like helping the county reach its waste-diversion goal of 75%, extending the life of the county’s last landfill and minimizing pollution.
Facilities Manager Rob O’Neill said that, until 2001, facilities maintenance was contracted out and social housing was a provincial responsibility. When social housing was downloaded, the county set up its facilities division.
Now, his department looks after four corporate buildings, six paramedic bases, four public-works depots, three CRCs and 15 Northumberland County Housing Corporation properties with 373 community housing units, as well as the Ontario Agrifood Venture Centre.
Four full-time staff were transferred to facilities when the department was created. Now there are 14, working at 600 William St. in Cobourg, where technicians vie for the use of the two computers and there is no space for workshops, meetings or changing rooms – not even enough room to park. Space has to be rented for equipment storage.
Looking ahead, the department’s needs can only grow as the county pursues its goal of 900 new social-housing units over the next 10 years – a 240% increase.
Without a JOB, O’Neill expects space will have to be leaded and adapted at an estimated cost of $60,000 to $70,000.
Benefits a JOB could offer include improved efficiency of service with workshop and storage space on-site, as well as an inclusive and accessible environment for employees.
Looking ahead, the committee will hear presentations from such other divisions as engineering and road operations, natural heritage, planning and inspection services, health and safety emergency planning and paramedics.
