Jewellery SALE 50% OFF
In-stock, regular priced jewellery, while quantities last. Not excatly as shown.
NEXT SENIOR’S DAY THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25th
1 Union St., Elmira | 519.669.3072 | www.elmiragiftoutlet.com
Reg. HOURS: Mon.-Wed. 9:30-5:30 | Thur.-Fri. 9:30-7:00 | Sat. 9:30-5:30
SALE STARTS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18th
02 | 18 | 2016 VOLUME 21 | ISSUE 07
MORE FUNDING TO BOOST JOBS IN SKILLED TRADES VENTURE PAGE 15
COMMENT PAGE 6
HOW MUCH IS IT WORTH TO KEEP TRANSFER STATION?
www.OBSERVERXTRA.com
Rollover sends driver to hospital
A vehicle rolled into the ditch on Middlebrook Road near Balsam Grove Road around 8 a.m. Tuesday morning. The lone occupant of the vehicle was taken to hospital and the road was closed for several hours. Police say the investigation is ongoing. [JOE MERLIHAN / THE OBSERVER]
Low turnout to discuss plans for Elmira transfer station Council hoping for more input prior to deciding whether to push ahead with formal bid for private operator STEVE KANNON CONFESSING TO BEING UNDERWHELMED by the turnout at a public meeting Tuesday night, Woolwich councillors will now decide if they’ll push ahead with efforts to save the waste transfer station in Elmira. Fewer than a dozen residents showed up for a special session in the com-
munity room at the WMC to hear about options for keeping the facility open. While some private operators have expressed interest in running the facility as a business venture, the township has to decide if it wants to move to a formal process, issuing a request for proposals (RFP) prior to the transfer station closing at the end of May. If that’s
the case, some arrangement may have to be made for interim operation of the site, as an official handover from the Region of Waterloo to a private company could take two to four years to complete given the regulatory hurdles. Even at the greatly reduced service level, the region says the facility costs about $110,000 a
year to run. The township could look at paying those costs while a private deal is worked out or perhaps a private operator would take on the costs in the interim. As it now stands, the current level of service – the site is open briefly two Saturdays a month – isn’t viable as a private enterprise, said David Brenneman, the township’s chief adminis-
trative officer. “As a business, they couldn’t make money as it is now.” In the long run, a private operator would need to expand the business beyond even what went on at the site when it was open most days, he added. Where the transfer station took in some 1,000 tonnes of trash in 2014, that
number would have to be at least 10,000 tonnes to make sense, he said of preliminary talks with potential operators. That would mean collecting waste from a much larger area and opening it up to commercial and industrial customers. Higher costs – a minimum of $10 per load from residential TRANSFER STATION | 2
The Westhill Retirement Residence| Tuesday, February 23rd from 2:00 to 4:00 pm Join us at an afternoon Open House to hear from expert professionals in all areas pertaining to transitioning from your current residence. RSVP to save your seat today! 25 WESTHILL DRIVE | WATERLOO, ON | westhill.sifton.com | 519.725.0525