Barrie councillors get update on ongoing recycling collection delays

Delays in recycled goods on council agenda Barrie councillors focused on school recreation sites for kids and delay in recycled materials pick-ups.

Barrie city councillors paused their ongoing budget deliberations during their weekly meeting on Wednesday, discussing new projects and addressing ongoing delays with recycling pickup for residents.

The pickup of recycling items has been behind all week. Contractors have told the city it is due to multiple factors, including weather, staffing challenges and impacts from the recent Family Day holiday.

Mayor Alex Nuttall shares the frustrations of many residents and says a new contractor has been selected for next year.

"I think as we move forward, we need to make sure that we have a contractor in place that's going to be able to deliver on the services that they are contracted and paid to do so and that we are able to deliver the services at the expectations that we set and certainly at the expectations that the residents of the City of Barrie expect," Nuttall told CTV News ahead of Wednesday's meeting.

City staff told councillors that crews started off this week a day and a half behind schedule. Contractors have told the City they anticipate being fully caught up by Saturday, with some regular Thursday collections moving ahead on Thursday.

City councillors also discussed an idea from Mayor Alex Nuttall and Councillor Amy Courser that would see schools in the city, particularly in underserviced areas, opened up for recreational activities for individuals on evenings and weekends.

"There's some opportunities for the school boards to be using city recreational facilities during the day, when we have downtimes, which I obviously think is great for students and then opportunities for us to be able to use them on evenings and weekends," Nuttall says. "So just having the use of the existing facilities so that it reduces the amount of that we have to spend on new infrastructure and increases the programming available to people in our community, I think it's an incredible thing."

With many Barrie residents not near a recreation center, the idea is to provide school gymnasiums, amongst other services in the school to residents for what Nuttall referred to as 'open access.'

Once ratified, city staff will begin negotiations with the school boards to solidify the plan's logistics. The mayor is hopeful it could be in place by the end of this year.

City councillors also considered a staff report calling for a zoning by-law amendment for a portion of Mapleview Drive East. Sobey's is interested in bringing a new grocery store to this southeast corner of the city.

With new developments on the horizon in that neighbourhood, the mayor says a new grocery store is needed.

"There's too many places in the City of Barrie that we refer to as grocery deserts where folks have to if they don't have a vehicle, they have to get on a bus, and it's an hour here or there just to be able to get some dinner, and that's not good enough," Nuttall says. "So we need to make sure as we're planning out these communities that they actually encompass all of the needs that the residents there will have."

Many councillors outlined concerns with where the initial proposal put entrances and exits. Those will be adjusted as this project moves forward.