GFL takes turn in hot seat

Stouffville Sun-Tribune
February 4, 2014
By Sandra Bolan

There was no apology, but Green For Life Environmental (GFL) officials admitted this morning to Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville councillors there was a communication failure between them, town staff and residents late last year when green and blue bin collection was disrupted.

GFL representatives were asked by Mayor Wayne Emmerson to make a presentation to councillors because “I thought it was time we talked directly to the man in charge”.

Only two members of the public were in attendance. They were not allowed to ask questions.

Patrick Dovigi, GFL founder and president, along with Brian Kent, vice-president of the company’s solid waste and recycling division, both noted they were not aware of Whitchurch-Stouffville’s collection problems in the aftermath of the ice storm and subsequent deep freeze, until it was too late. They said the area manager failed to tell them of the service problems he and his crews were experiencing.

“There’s been a failure on your behalf to meet those (contract) standards and its been an ongoing basis,” Councillor Phil Bannon told Mr. Dovigi and Mr. Kent. “You’re going to have to suffer the consequences down the road.”

Unlike other councillors who thanked the pair from GFL for coming before council to provide insight on what happened and what the plan is going forward, Rob Hargrave instead said he appreciated their appearance and then asked them, on a scale of one to 10, how much they appreciated the municipality’s business.

“We value everybody’s business as a 10,” Mr. Dovigi said. “All we have is our reputation ... everybody has forgotten about the last six years.”

On one of the coldest days on record in the GTA, collection was cancelled in the so-called N6 — York Region’s six northern municipalities.

It was a decision made early Tuesday, Jan. 7 between GFL officials and the northern six waste management representative.

“Trucks had already left town when I found out,” Paul Whitehouse, director of public works for the municipality told The Sun-Tribune.

This was not the first time collection was cancelled due to weather. In early 2013, GFL and its northern six waste collection representatives agreed to suspend collection for one day due to snow, Mr. Whitehouse told The Sun-Tribune.

He said promises from GFL this past December and January that collection would be done on a particular day, then didn’t, led to much of the frustration felt by town staff and residents.

“The communication between GFL and us went south,” Mr. Whitehouse told The Sun-Tribune.

Mr. Dovigi noted moving forward, communication between his staff and town employees will improve. A back-up generator will be installed later this month in order to avoid a repeat of the four days the company was without phone service in December.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hargrave hopes community goodwill will be part of GFL’s future plans,  since fining the company does nothing for the inconvenienced residents, he said.

“We did our best. Sometimes your best isn’t enough,” Mr. Dovigi told The Sun-Tribune following his meeting with council.