What’s City Staff Hiding On Tag-A-Bag Program?
Let’s take the thinking a little farther on the Trail Road life expectancy report and issue.
If this report is to be believed, city staff either doesn’t know what the life expectancy of Trail Road Landfill is or won’t tell us.
That means city staff brought forward the tag-a-bag program not knowing or not wanting to say what the Trail Road life expectancy is.
For God’s Sake, Answer The Landfill Question
Staff simply brought forward the proposal, with no public discussion, because … well … we don’t know the reason. That program would cost taxpayers a fair amount of money but the research for it on this vital question of need is zippo or zilch, whichever such technical term you want to use.
It was brought forward, we are told, to extend the life of Trail Road. But with life expectancy speculation out there as far as 2049 as the report says, why are we doing tag-a-bag? Cash grab? Well if you can’t provide a good answer on life expectancy of the landfill, that’s a very, very possible reason.
Employee Used City Vehicle In Truck Convoy: AG
This tag-a-bag program is sloppy and has created an issue that, from all appearances, didn’t need to happen.
So the fundamental question remains: why did city staff bring forward the tag-a-bag program without adequate research? What’s going on?
And if city staff does know that date, why aren’t they telling council and the public what that date is? What do they have to hide?
Or maybe they really don’t know the date which is astoundingly sloppy. If that’s the best the City of Ottawa can provide, maybe it’s time to start making major changes of city staff.
The alternatives on this issue are sloppy or hiding information. Neither is good.
Ken Gray
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I completed a detailed survey about a year ago on the landfill and options that were being considered. So in this rare case the city actually did research, consulted the public, analyzed the data and suggested a “best Option”. Clear bags was one option given so Garbage collectors staff can reject bags with recyclables. Fact: One of my neighbors NEVER put out a blue bin, but have 6 or more bags of garbage, the other NEVER puts out a green bin, they have 3 cans of garbage. I have 3/4 of a can on average because I have a big blue bin (can size) always full and always a green bin. I am definitely subsidizing those that do not attempt recycling. It is a complex problem where other cities struggled with before us and found a similar solution to what the staff presented. I have lived in three of those cities and it was not an issue. It seems change is more difficult in Ottawa than elsewhere.
Andrew:
City staff couldn’t even give an answer as to the lifespan of Trail Road.
Damn fine research.
cheers
kgray
I agree completely. I note that they aren’t very concerned about answering a simple request and I realized instantly that they don’t know the answer. They probably have been sitting on their hands for a quite a while, not realizing that they should have all these answers. Maybe a little shakeup is necessary.
Frank:
I put this down to a lack of leadership and questionable leadership for the last 12 years.
That spreads like a disease. Good management spreads as does bad management.
These guys have developed a culture down there that the prime directive is to cover your butt. It’s easier to do a good job but instead they spent much time covering up a bad job. You can only do that for some time before there’s too much bad stuff to cover up so it becomes impossible.
Thus you have what happened to Watson. That culture remains. That report looks like someone desperately not wanting to make a decision. Because doing something is dangerous because you could be wrong.
That culture will take a decade or two to change if anyone is interested in changing it. That’s the damage the last 12 years has done.
It’s cover your butt and be scared when asked to change something.
That report is saying lots of things and saying (and doing) nothing.
We have a broken city government.
cheers
kgray
Frank:
It needs a huge cultural damage to recover from the last 12 years.
But the people at city hall don’t want to change because it works for the powers that be.
We need a bunch of ethical, good managers to clean up that place but that won’t happen because everybody there is comfortable with the lousy state of affairs. In other words, it works for them.
Cheers
kgray
Maybe staff have learned over the past many decades of working on “The Trail Road Question” that what’s wanted isn’t answers or hard facts. Successive council have shown they aren’t going to take the hard decisions and punted the issue on to the next council … and the next ad infinitum. Why do all the hard work when councillors will read the first couple of pages and then let their constituents and the business community steer them away from any comprehensive action?
Did staff learn nothing from the green bin fiasco. They did not provide enough information to council to make a reasoned decision. Even worse, council were rammed into a decision knowing that they didn’t have all the information. Seems like the same thing is happening here. Why is no one holding staff accountable?
Steve Levecque. Your observation about the consistency of approach between the green bin fiasco and the “everyone else is doing Tag a Bag, so we should too” that passes for the current situational analysis is bang on. The old adage about garbage in, garbage out seems apropos.
The culture that has settled in at city hall over the last more than a decade has made it clear that council reports to staff. The LRT Commissioner’s report basically drew that conclusion. Council lacked the will to demand the information required to fulfill its statutory obligations of oversight. Virtue signals do not constitute change. Only change constitutes change.
No one on the last three councils objected to the inadequacy of staff reports, nor has anyone, except for Barrhaven East Councillor Wilson Lo on matters related to OC Transpo, on the current council. Staff has been permitted to “go through the paces” for so long that accountability is no longer a performance criteria.