Township of Manitouwadge Landfill Site Closes Indefinitely Just Weeks Before Christmas
MANITOUWADGE, ON – The Township of Manitouwadge has advised residents and businesses that their landfill site is closed until further notice due to continuing dispute regarding the maintenance of the Industrial Road previously known as Hwy 625 (circa 1960) following considerable snowfall and what it has described as dangerous conditions on the Industrial Road which has been signed as “Use at your own risk” by the Ministry of Natural Resources since late May (2013). [To skip to press release scroll down].
Residents learned of the discontinuation of maintenance to the gravel road in late May 2013 when it was noticed that the Ministry of Natural resources had posted a small sign approximately 4-6km down the road reading “Roads and bridges beyond this point not maintained. Use at your own risk”. In August, two washouts within view of each other, caused the road to become impassable. At that time it was alleged to OntarioNewsNorth.com that a local contractor had been contacted by a provincial ministry requesting quotes for having the culvert causing one of the washouts removed and the road closed via sand/gravel mound (similar to those which block off old rail beds); several days later the same week it was alleged the contractor was called once again with a new quote request for the cost of repairing the culvert; the validity of these claims was never confirmed as no work was done to the subsequently and it remained washed out and impassable.
Late August, while attending the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) annual conference Manitouwadge Mayor John MacEachern and Councillor Natalie Labbee met with Minister of Natural Resources David Orazietti regarding the need for a maintenance plan/agreement for the Industrial Road, Municipality of Greenstone Mayor Renald Beaulieu and Councillor Armand Giguere had expressed interest in attending the meeting, that the message of urgency might be better communicated to the Minister if both municipalities (the Municipality of Greenstone includes 8 communities) were in attendance however their seemed to be mis-communication as the Greenstone delegation said it was not with a meeting time they had believed was forthcoming from Mayor MacEachern and so were left out of the discussion re: Industrial Rd and unable to emphasize the concerns they shared with Manitouwadge in regards to need for long-term maintenance of the vital link between the two communities. Mayor MacEachern has repeatedly claimed, in his report on the AMO conference to the Northeast Superior Mayors’ Group, during council meetings and in speaking with OntarioNewsNorth.com that, while at the AMO conference, he was “Approached by both Mr. Larry Joy [MPP Gravelle’s Executive Assistant] and Mr. Ian Smith, Director, Thunder Bay District MTO who independently told me [Mayor MacEachern] that they had found a solution to our problems.” It would seem almost certain at this point that the Mayor somehow misunderstood either the comments or the context in which they were made (he has described these conversations as having been brief and taking place outside of any official meetings) as there has been no solution offered by any ministry to this point which would solve the issue of maintenance to Industrial Road in a way that is acceptable to the Township of Manitouwadge. This mis-communication is quite unfortunate for Manitouwadge as the Mayor appeared, for many weeks, to delay lobbying in regards to maintenance of the Industrial Road, or at least seemed to fail to keep pressure on the provincial government claiming on several occasions that the assurances he felt he had been given assured that “everything was being taken care of” as he seemed to proceed as if there was little or no need for continued action.
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
The Township of Manitouwadge released a statement this week, advising residents of ways they could reduce the amount of waste they were creating, or at least the amount of waste that would be filling residential garbage cans and that of dumpsters used by businesses as the landfill site is closed for an undetermined period of time.
“December 5th, 2013
Please be advised that the Township of Manitouwadge has been forced to cancel Garbage Collection days within the municipality because we are unable to access the Landfill Site due to road conditions.
Ongoing efforts to resolve this issue with various Ministries and Ministers have not been successful and we are still unsure of the future of the road known as Caramat Road which is provincially owned.
Our Landfill site is located approximately 7km on this road and it is now snow covered, unplowed and has become a hazard for our workers and residents. Because of health and safety concerns with the condition of this road, we will not be sending our equipment or employees to the Landfill site until such time as it is plowed and made safe for our residents and employees.
Businesses are encouraged to break down boxes and flatten garbage until such time that it can be picked up. Businesses may consider using their dumpsters for kitchen waste only and keep their cardboard and non-perishable waste separate from their dumpsters until such time as it may be picked up by the Township.
Residents are encouraged to place only kitchen waste in your garbage cans and keep non-perishable separate.
The Township will continue its effort to have this issue resolved in a timely matter but ask that both businesses and residents be patient and we apologize for any inconveniences that this may cause.
Mayor and Council”
The release also includes an statement encouraging residents to contact a number of provincial representatives themselves [Please note, OntarioNewsNorth.com has provided two links for each MPP listed below, 1.Click their name to visit their website or 2.Click their title/riding to visit their listing on the Ontario Legislative Assembly website (each provide their mailing address however their websites can provide a look into what they consider priorities and where their time/attn has been focused).]
“Residents of Manitouwadge, please contact Ministers listed below to express your concerns:
- The Honourable Glen R. Murray, Minister of Transportation;
- The Hon. Michael Gravelle, Minister Northern Development & Mines, MPP Thunder Bay-Superior North;
- MPP Michael Mantha, Algoma-Manitoulin
- The Hon.David Orazietti, Minister of Natural Resources
- The Hon. Linda Jeffrey, Minister of Mun. Affairs & Housing”
The press release also provided phone #s and email addresses rather than physical addresses though provincial ministries will usually tell people that to receive a response in regards to any concerns/communication it should be sent in the form of a traditional (printed) letter (to be mailed in). Whether the township has knowingly or unknowingly requested that residents communicate their displeasure and concerns in a way that is likely to be more of an annoyance than one that actually garners any respect or response isn’t known however considering the urgency and serious nature of the situation it is a shame that our municipal representatives aren’t providing better advice to residents.
OntarioNewsNorth.com has, as a courtesy and in the hopes of people using means of communication that will be taken seriously, linked the list of ministers above to each one’s website where you can find both their toll-free numbers and their physical mailing addresses, we strongly recommend that the latter be used to communicate your concerns regarding the Industrial Road (and any other provincial matters since, as mentioned, emails are not considered official complaints by most Ministry offices and i fact email servers may simply direct random addresses to junk mail folders to protect the addressee from spam).
