HRM Council held a special meeting on May 18, 2016 to discuss Bill 176 – The Otter Lake Landfill Act. You can view the proceedings of the meeting.
For background, you can read about the Bill in this previous post.
During the meeting, some Councillors questioned the Community Monitoring Committee’s process to consult its members and make decisions. There were questions about whether the CMC consulted all of its members about making a presentation to the Private and Local Bills Committee, and what the content would be. There were also suggestions made that inferred there was something wrong with CMC making a presentation to the Committee, and a suggestion that HRM should review its relationship with the CMC as HRM provides the funding for the CMC.
To address these comments and issues raised, the CMC has written Mayor Savage and copied all members of Council. We hope that the letter will provide answers to the questions posed and provide clarity about the role and responsibility of the CMC. In the interest of transparency, and making the information available to others who may have watched the proceedings of Council, we have made that letter public.
The Community Monitoring Committee was established by HRM to monitor the operation of the Otter Lake Landfill. It reports to the people of the local community, and has the responsibility to listen to area residents, report information about the landfill operation to residents, and report to Council and any other authorities it sees fit. The existence of the CMC is a requirement of the Industrial Permit issued by the Province for the operation of the Otter Lake Landfill.
You can learn more about the Community Monitoring Committee.