Richard Froese
South Peace News
Property owners in hamlets in Big Lakes County willl soon have an opportunity to clean up their yards and get rid of large items.
At its regular meeting June 28, council set the dates for the annual household waste round-up from July 19-23.
Round-up dates were set for July 19 in Enilda, July 20 in Grouard, July 21 in Joussard, July 22 in Faust and July 23 in Kinuso.
“Each hamlet has a specified pick-up date in late spring and early summer where residents are asked to bring all trash, including fridges and couches they wish to remove from their residences, to the curb,” says Dave Reynolds, director of corporate services.
“The County’s public works crew conducts the pick-up and disposal of trash to our local waste sites.”
He adds the project helps residents and benefits local communities.
“The County has previously conducted the hamlet clean-up initiative with the goal of assisting residents with removing trash from their properties to make the hamlets a cleaner and more desirable place to live and visit,” Reynolds says.
Designated funding for the round-up is not currently a line item in the 2023 budget, he adds.
However, historically, the funding for the program has been allocated to roads hamlet maintenance.
Some council members want the program expanded outside the hamlets.
North Gilwood – Triangle Councillor Jim Zabolotniuk initiated the issue.
“The only question I have, we do it for the hamlets,” Zabolotniuk says.
“Do we do it for rural county residents? It should be for the whole county.”
High Prairie East – Banana Belt Councillor Tyler Airth agreed.
“It should be done for rural residents as well as hamlets.”
Council further passed a motion to direct administration to complete a cost analysis of the program and costs to expand the program into rural areas.