City council needs to show leadership to keep the community clean, which is why creating a new municipal committee to co-ordinate cleanup efforts and foster community spirit is important, the mayor believes.
However, not everyone on council believes another city-led committee is the answer, since such a group would overlap with existing committees and potentially hamper current efforts in the community.
During the Jan. 25 regular council meeting, council voted 5-2 to approve a new committee that is focused on city cleanliness and community pride, while authorizing city administration to bring forward a terms of reference document for the new committee.
Councillors Crystal Froese and Dawn Luhning were opposed.
The mayor’s pitch
“I want to live in a cleaner city and I want people take pride in community in which we live … ,” Mayor Fraser Tolmie said. “This is an effort that should be led by the city, and this committee should work with other community stakeholders to help organizations who feel the same about keeping our city clean.”
Small groups have worked together to tidy the community by picking up pop cans, coffee cups and drink bottles, while council has supported these groups’ endeavours to beautify the city, he continued.
This effort must continue even after every member of council is long gone, Tolmie added. That is why a committee is the answer, since it can lead, support and work with residents to restore enthusiasm in the community.
Pushback on the pitch
“This topic has (already) been tackled in various ways in the community,” said Froese, who thought pride for keeping streets clean currently existed.
Froese explained that after she moved back to Moose Jaw in 2011, she and Coun. Heather Eby started a group called Beautify Moose Jaw that attempted to bring a more cohesive approach to cleaning up the community several times a year. The youth advisory committee came on board, which led to high school students collecting trash and turning it into art.
These efforts brought plenty of attention to the garbage problem afflicting the community, she said. High schools and service clubs have also stepped up to tidy the city, while city hall provides garbage bags and gloves in the spring to residents who want to help.
“Truly, I thought what we were doing was working well … ,” remarked Froese, adding an awareness campaign and better communications strategy around picking up garbage is likely a better answer.
This committee would create duplication of work at city hall, agreed Luhning. She pointed to the youth advisory committee, which has worked on a project to ban plastic bags. Those youths would likely be interested in this idea, but they simply need some direction and focus. Moreover, that group already has a terms of reference document to guide its work.
“I’m all for bringing this to the youth advisory committee and saying here is (your) mandate for this year,” she said, adding this mandate should be brought to council in March for approval.
Existing litter programs
Council approved a program more than a year ago that encouraged groups to pick up litter and provided them with garbage bags and safety vests, said Eby. While she supported the motion, she agreed that the proposed committee created duplication; a more co-ordinated and concentrated awareness campaign was best.
“For me, when it comes to city cleanliness, I’d rather be out picking up garbage on a walk than sitting on a Zoom meeting with seven people I haven’t met in person yet … ,” she said. “I’m just not sure I want it to be more meetings for more people.”
The mayor’s rebuttal
The youth advisory committee could certainly be added to this initiative, but council should still lead it, Tolmie said. Meanwhile, the proposed committee would focus less on meetings and more on creating awareness campaigns and co-ordinating groups.
That message needs to be communicated regularly, including that there are supplies for residents to use to pick up litter, he added. The onus is on council to guide this initiative so that residents see that leadership.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Feb. 1.
