Councillors vote to include progress on waste strategy in staff KPIs
While compromising on raising the height of Coffs’ landfill, Crs made a surprise inclusion to management’s performance targets.
Coffs Harbour
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Finding a solution to Coffs Harbour’s waste issues will be added to the KPI targets of senior council staff.
The radical move was put forward by Cr Paul Amos during debate over raising the height of landfill at Englands Road at the most recent council meeting.
Mr Amos’ addition to a Cr Sally Townley motion sought to include “positive progress” toward a sustainable waste management solution and control over tip odour emissions to the Key Performance Indicator targets of senior management.
However, Coffs Harbour City Council’s general manager Steve McGrath raised concerns about the manner in which the KPIs were being added when the performance review process was meant to be “fair and reasonable” and through "mutual agreement" between the parties involved.
Given the “complex” nature of the issues at Englands Road, with multiple operations and licences all occurring concurrently, Mr McGrath suggested the point be removed. With regards to odour emissions, he said the vast majority of noncompliance had been via Biomass Solutions – an operation council had no control over.
The exception was an incident in April which has resulted in a powerful stench emanating from council-controlled landfill.
Councillors Townley and Amos weren’t prepared to remove the point and instead opted to remove the reference to odour.
The motion, which passed, also included a series of other measures including a four metre rise to landfill height under a compromise plan to find a long-term solution to its waste mess.
While the decision to raise the landfill height was somewhat overshadowed by the revelation Coffs Harbour City Council has spent $4.3 million on legal fees contesting waste contracts, it secures the viability of the Englands Rd site for another five years.
Councillors were unwilling to raise the capacity by 10 metres, as suggested by staff, instead opting for a more modest rise to balance the region’s immediate needs against ensuring progress was made in finding alternatives to the much-maligned facility.
During her opening remarks, Cr Townley agreed that having a “tight time frame” might “force action” and said everyone in the room should “take some responsibility” for the situation Council found itself in.
Ms Townley then drew parallels with the region’s past water supply issues.
“I think we all agree that our transition to a secure and sustainable waste option for our community is long overdue,” she said.
“I invite all councillors and the community to think about this problem in the way we thought about Shannon Creek Dam. Large expenditure on infrastructure (and) holistic planning across a regional scale.
“We did that to shore up our water supply for generations to come and boy aren’t we glad we did it. Aren’t we thanking ourselves for that foresight.
“We need to now, today, this minute apply that level of foresight to this problem.”
Based on current projections, the landfill site at Englands Road will be full by the end of the 2022/23 financial year and a report commissioned by Council outlined a series of measures which would increase its life.
After more than an hour of discussion councillors agreed on a series of measures in addition to the landfill rise, starting with meeting with the neighbouring councils of Nambucca and Bellingen Shire to discuss pathways to transition to “secure and sustainable waste and resource recovery options”.
Senior staff will also prepare bimonthly reports on where they are up to and the state of the facility’s odour emissions.
The stench from the landfill will also be the subject of another report on the measures being implemented to control the odour, and their efficacy, to be received within a month.
Staff will also investigate on the possibility of the existing facility being converted to a waste transfer station.
Crs Adendorff, Amos, Cecato, Rhoades and Townley voted for the motion and Cr Arkan voted against.
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