The region is working hard to keep Thorold clean. That message was made loud and clear during Monday’s meeting of the city’s Town and Gown Committee.
The Director of Waste Management Services for the region, Catherine Habermebl, gave a presentation on how the region has been monitoring waste issues in Thorold’s student neighbourhoods.
“We’ve added an intern to our on-road staff and between them and our full-time staff person we are in the Thorold off-campus housing areas at least five times a week,” she told committee members.
In September and October, there were 372 issues concerning waste in student neighbourhoods in Thorold.
As a result, 603 actions were taken, ranging from site visits to emails and phone calls, with 96 per cent of the issues resolved within two days.
Just seven per cent of student properties had repeat non-compliance issues.
”We try to address those more directly with the property owner,” said Habermebl. “If we cannot resolve it in a timely manner then we do reach out to the property owners and follow up with a letter to them.”
A committee member asked Habermebl if the region can resort to monetary fines if issues don’t get solved in a timely manner.
“Actually in St. Catharines, we’re having a real problem, not with student housing, but areas within the downtown core,” she responded. “We just recently met with our court and our legal team to see how we can start more aggressively enforcing the by-law. We have to make sure that we have solid evidence when we’re issuing a fine."
Mayor Terry Ugulini, who also sits on the committee, asked how the region deals with overflowing trash cans.
“After the garbage is picked up there might be garbage on the ground,” he said.
“We can address that in our by-law,” answered Habermebl. “There’s wording on that particular issue, so I’ll just make sure that staff is keeping an eye on that. The contractor won’t collect material that has fallen out of the bin. That’s not part of their work.”
When it comes to other student issues in Thorold, NRPS 1 District Office Commander Rob Laplante said that there have been 31 noise complaints in Thorold since the start of the school year.
“I would say that’s pretty low in my opinion,” he added.
“It’s been the quietest fall that I’ve had since I became a councillor,” echoed Councillor Ken Sentance.
“We are seeing results,” concluded Mayor Ugulini. “It shows the importance of keeping the momentum going.”
