Mr. Jim Little

Coordinator

Bill McKenzie Memorial Society

 

Dear Mr. Little

 

Thank you for your correspondence related to the shipment of batteries from the City of Iqaluit to Ports South, and in relation to your assertions I wish to advise as follows:

 

Firstly, the Council approved budget of $56,000 and not $60,000 as stated in your correspondence relates to the collection, storage, processing and shipment of Household Hazardous Waste, and not simply costs related to vehicle batteries.  The City takes seriously its responsibility to facilitate the collection and removal of these potentially dangerous materials from the Community, and in specific reference to vehicle batteries, your assertion that they pose no danger to the environment, I challenge directly, and I am supported by the stated position of the various Federal and Government Departments.

 

In respect to the numerous issues related to intake and storage of metals, I again take exception to the assertion in your correspondence that no effort is made to control metal disposal in the Landfill.  You are well aware sir, with your work with the Solid Waste Steering Advisory Committee, that not only has the Committee taken firm positions in this matter, but the City Council has petitioned for assistance and resources to provided by both Territorial and Federal levels of Government, and has yet to receive acknowledgement of our serious concerns with respect to the storage of metals within the Municipal Landfill, and the North 40, and elsewhere in the Community.

 

With respect to your assertion that that leachate control is virtually non-existant, I again challenge your generalized and erroneous contention.  The City has for several years been required to sample and report leachate flows within the Landfill to INAC, and as you are again well aware from your contact with the City and most recently during the 2006 Capital Budget Deliberation, the City has an approved $600,000 Capital Budget for this fiscal year to remediate the berm within the Landfill, engineer and build improved drainage ditches, and create improved containment capacity.

 

With respect to the Composting Project undertaken by the Society, it is important for the record that the City has fully supported this Project, through the provision of In kind support for space, storage, access and on occasion mechanical assistance, to a current estimated value in excess of $45,000, and at this time I must advise the Society that the area currently being used for the storage of organic materials, storage containers, truck, trailer etc. requires to be vacated, as (A) the in-kind support has been fully utilized and has now expired, and (B) the Composting Project is occupying and area that is subject to preparation and Capital Works, following establishment of the City’s ownership of Cell 2 within the Landfill. (Spring to Fall 2006)

 

The City, through the Committee and City Council, and in addition to the support provided by the Landfill Staff and Management of Public Works has been very supportive of the Composting Project, however economic reality and the numerous and competing priorities of the City Council, in providing a full range of Municipal Programs and Services within this Community form the opinion of the undersigned, that the City is not and should not be the financier, in what may well be a commercial viable initiative, best administered by Society, in partnership with Upper Tier Government and business.

 

Sincerely

 

Under authority of the Chief Administrative Officer

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Geoff Baker [mailto:G.Baker@City.Iqaluit.NU.CA]
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 4:51 PM
To: Mark Hall; I. Fremantle
Subject: FW: Safe Storage of Car Batteries

 

-----Original Message-----
From: The Bill Mackenzie Humanitarian Society [mailto:BMHS@nunanet.com]
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 4:43 PM
To: James Noble
Cc: G.Baker@City.Iqaluit.NU.CA
Subject: Safe Storage of Car Batteries