The city's most recent proposal regarding the landfill was completely unacceptable to the RM of Weyburn, said council members at their monthly meeting, Friday.

In the wake of the crash of a regional weigh scale proposal, the RM has come up with another proposal to the city in the hope that the stand-off over landfill use can be resolved.

Reeve Dan Sidloski reported the results of a letter the RM had sent to neighboring rural municipalities and the City of Weyburn as part of ongoing negotiations about landfill usage. The letter proposed that the RMs of Weyburn, Lomond, Brokenshell, Wellington, Cymri and Griffin purchase a weigh scale for the landfill, and in return the city allow usage and consider going to a per tonne payment system.

The city replied that it is investigating involvement in a regional landfill. If the RMs installed the weigh scale at the city landfill, it would grant access to the landfill for two years, with RM residents paying the same tipping fee as other users. After two years, when a regional landfill is in place, the city would go back to a $7.50 per capita charge for landfill access. The weigh scale would have to be built to city specifications.

"We have a situation with (people using) private haulers now," said Sidloski. "I hoped we could come to a solution with our own city, but this letter isn't at all acceptable to us - only two years use for a regional scale, and no indication the city would provide a per tonne charge.

"People say it is unacceptable for this not to be resolved and they say that they know we need it, but not to make a deal we shouldn't. As long as the garbage is going to a landfill, it's no problem," Sidloski added.

All of the RMs except Wellington informed the RM of Weyburn that they were not interested in the weigh scale proposal, preferring the other options available to them at this point. The RM of Weyburn is the only one without a formal landfill arrangement, but Sidloski said ratepayers give every indication that their garbage is going to a landfill.

The RM will send a letter to the RM of Wellington with an update on the situation, that no one considers the city solution acceptable, and the idea of installing a regional weigh scale is no longer being pursued.

Councillors suggested proposing a sticker system to the city. A sticker that gains entry to the gate could be purchased and the purchaser pay the same tipping fee as everyone else. There could be different rates for residential and commercial waste. This proposal would have to be profitable for the landfill and affordable for users.

In other business, a quick update from some divisions revealed that traffic is causing real damage on some roads. Council discussed the possibility of getting routing information from regular road users in each division for reference. Councillors agreed to identify regular users and bring this information to the next meeting.

The RM will have traffic counts later in the summer and plans to have classifier counts in the appropriate positions within each division.

The City of Weyburn has proposed some changes in the fire agreement it has with the RM. Changes would include a $500 retainer per annum plus $55 per hour for Chief Pilon to act as fire investigator. The per capita fee of $5 would stay the same over the next five years, but a $10 increase per visit would be implemented each year.

The RM already has an individual serving as fire assistant, responsible to call the fire commissioner in Regina if a fire is suspicious. However, it was agreed that the proposal would be considered, and fire arrangements that other RMs have will be investigated after seeding.

At the meeting, Trevor Andrews and Ruth Brown of the Weyburn Youth Centre asked for RM involvement with a youth program that is being launched.

In order to get youth involved in community projects and earn donations instead of asking for them, the organization is offering services such as painting, yard and tree line clean-up to RM residents. Council agreed to support the group by raising awareness of the service among ratepayers and to include information about it in the next rural newsletter.