South West Coast Joint Council express concerns

Waste management was a big concern of representatives at a recent meeting of the South West Coast Joint Council.

Council chair Peter Fenwick said the meeting was an opportunity for the 14 local municipalities and local service districts the council represents to come together and hear each others concerns.

"It was very, very strong representation that we've never seen before at any of our [initiatives]," he said. "The council is only two years old - it's not that big, but the first time that people were really upset with issues was when we asked them to introduce themselves and what their issue is."

Gilbert Smart, the recently appointed chair of the Western Regional Waste Management Committee, was invited to the meeting along with representatives from the department of municipal affairs.

Mr. Fenwick said council asked them what the strategy was for waste management in the western region. In particular, he said council wanted to know what strategies would be put in place to deal with waste once teepee incinerators are closed in the province at the end of December.

"What they said was they're in the in the midst of working out the terms of reference that will be used to advertise for a consultant," said Mr. Fenwick. "The consultant will be hired and the consultant will be asked to address the issue of the whole question of what to do in the interim without the teepee burners."

Mr. Fenwick said consultants may not be the best idea.

"All of us there, we know what consultants are like and how long it takes to hire them and how long it takes them to do their work and so on, and we're fastly running out of time."

Mr. Fenwick said he agreed teepee incinerators should no longer be used, but feels municipalities and local service districts should be given the information they need to plan ahead of closing them down.

"There seems to be absolutely no co-ordination whatsoever and the municipalities are afraid of being caught in the middle," he said. "They're the ones who'll have to pony up for the additional costs of having to close your teepee and get rid of your garbage some other way."

After the meeting, Mr. Fenwick sent a letter to Ross Wiseman, provincial minister of health, stating some of the concerns expressed at the meeting in regard to services at Sir Thomas Roddick Hospital.

"The members felt that the current board structure that has been in place for the last number of years has led to a serious downgrading of the services available in local hospitals," wrote Mr. Fenwick.

"With one board for the whole west coast, decisions about where resources are to be located have mitigated against the hospitals that are not at the centre of the region."

The letter goes on to ask that Sir Thomas Roddick hospital in Stephenville reinstate its local board.

"Give the problems that have arisen in other hospitals over the last few years, we believe that the problem at Stephenville is not an isolated one, and that local boards exercising local oversight is a better way to go."

Stephenville councillor Laura Aylward said she brought the issue to the table during the Southwest Coast Joint Council meeting.

"Prior to 1996 and the centralization, we didn't have these problems," she told the Georgian. "I certainly support the letter and I feel that since regionalization/centralization, our services and our retention and recruitment of doctors have gotten worse. Prior to that, we didn't have a problem retaining doctors or recruiting doctors."