At the Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday night, Perth town council received a delegation from R.J. Burnside regarding the town’s tender for an expansion of the current landfill site; R.J. Burnside is an engineering and environmental consulting company.

In August, Perth put out a tender for a major expansion of the current landfill site. This expansion would mean an increase of 100 000 cubic metres to the existing landfill site capacity, and is expected to keep the landfill running for an additional 15 years. The anticipated budget for the expansion project was $2 600 000; however, the lowest bid came in at approximately $5 200 000. 

Mayor Fenik asked Council if they would consider waiving the tender altogether and take on management of the project together. “Why not do that ourselves,” he asked, “Directly approach contractors to get prices for each part of the job?” Grant Machan, Director of Environmental Services, pointed out they could source many supplies locally, and consider changing the design. Jamie Hollingsworth of R.J. Burnside added that yes, they could break up the contract and there are different avenues the town could go to lessen the costs. 

Perth will continue to operate the existing landfill site but will consider alternative contracting, redesigning the expansion in order to reduce its financial burden. Town staff will prepare an alternative construction plan for the proposed expansion for review at the Committee of the Whole meeting in November 2020.

The town of Perth produces 5000 cubic tonnes of waste annually.

Article by Janelle Labelle