The disenchantment amongst the regional district’s residents over changes to curbside garbage collection continues, especially in Area “G”.
The committee meetings of the regional district’s board saw discussions about waste collection come to the forefront again after a delegation armed with a 125 signature petition from Olalla protested the changes - and the rising costs - to the directors. Following the delegation was a plea by the Area “G” Director Christensen to at least have the waste collection contractor take a look at a possible alternative method of garbage collection in the electoral area.
The residents - as well as Director Elef’s - complaints had been falling on deaf ears for the past five months or so, but it appeared at the March 17 meeting that at least a few of the Environmental and Infrastructure Committee members were willing to take a second look at alternatives, even at this late hour.
A passionate plea for more communication and attention to be paid to the taxpayers by delegate Flo Winfrey, followed by Christensen’s request to see if Area “G” could be more cheaply served by splitting the area into two and having some waste go to the Princeton landfill resulted in realization to some of the directors that this is one issue that isn’t going to go away - and therefore deserves some attention. A recommendation to look into Christensen’s suggestion - in spite of the fact that staff wanted nothing to do with it - is a sign that the board is capable of being driven by the will of the people.
Although that might mean a little extra work on the part of staff, it needs to be pointed out that this dissatisfaction on the part of the taxpayer is not new. Had they reacted to that dissension properly in the first place, the amount of work remaining would have been minimized.