Lacombe City council was faced with a difficult decision at its May 13 regular meeting.
Choose to go ahead with a portion of the Solid Waste Roadmap due to dire need, or bite the bullet and stand by their previous decision to delay the Solid Waste Roadmap while it educated the public about the program.
Either way, it is not an ideal decision to make.
Go one way; the City suffers by having to continue to stockpile organic waste that will not decompose to useable compost.
Go the other and council breaks trust with the citizens they represent. However, we feel the right decision was made.
Even though the majority of council agreed that a HotRot compost system would be the ideal solution to Lacombe’s current composting problem, they also agreed, for the most part, that as it was part of the Solid Waste Roadmap council should not make a decision on it until they could better educate the public about its entire plan. It was not a happy decision to make and we do not think anyone on council particularly enjoyed making it, but that is what councillors are elected to do.
Councillors are charged with representing the best interests of their community. That is exactly what Lacombe City council did on Monday night - it acted as voice for the citizens of Lacombe and represented their interests.
While it is clear that the City has great need of a new compost system, the community has made it quite clear what they want and that is to be informed. During a time where other levels of government are often criticized for alleged broken promises, we think Lacombe City council should be commended for sticking to its guns and standing up for the citizens of Lacombe.
Yes, the City will suffer.
Its current compost site is a smelly, ineffective eyesore and will continue to be so for now. But, it is a necessary evil.
While it is unlikely Lacombians want their City to have to deal with problems of this nature, it is certainly true that they want to be involved, or at least informed, with how Lacombe handles its waste. This will allow them the opportunity to do that.