Weyburn city council is considering a proposal from one of western Canada's largest waste handling companies to set up and operate a non-hazardous storage cell on city land.

The proposal from Hazco Environmental Services Ltd. was outlined at council's regular meeting on Monday, and a public meeting presenting further details will be held on Monday, March 17 in the Weyburn Legion Hall, starting at 7:30 p.m.

The company's subsidiary, WasteWorks Inc., is proposing to set up a Class II industrial and oilfield waste cell, which will include a registration and screening process to ensure the waste brought is non-hazardous in nature.

WasteWorks currently operates similar cells in Medicine Hat and Crowsnest-Pincher Creek, Alta., along with 12 public/private partnerships across western Canada, and a number of regional landfills.

The Medicine Hat cell, said to be very similar to what is proposed for Weyburn, included a one-meter thick compacted clay liner, an additional plastic liner and a leachate collection and removal system.

Prior to the presentation, Coun. George Kalman expressed concerns the proposed site is encroaching on a natural floodway, and is near the Tatagwa Parkway. He raised the issue as the city is also working on bringing in a development plan and zoning bylaw for the city, which affect the development of a project like this.

In a later interview, Kalman pointed out that the South Hill residents have long been trying to get the landfill area cleaned up, as it's near a residential area and the historic areas on Signal Hill, and claimed this development would be a step backwards in that effort.

"We've got to think about future generations. It's a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned. Build it out of town, but don't build it there. It's a potential disaster waiting to happen, and I think we need a lot more talk on it," he said, adding one problem would be the odour emitted by gas or oil-soaked soil, one of the materials that would be admitted to such a site.

He noted this same company tried to bring in such a development in the Estevan-Bienfait area and were rejected, and now they're trying to come in to Weyburn.

According to company information, non-hazardous materials includes soil contaminated with crude oil, gas, diesel, produced water or glycol, catalysts and desiccants from gas processing operations, drill cuttings and waste, stabilized trace metals in soil, and off-spec or unused industrial products.

Material classified as hazardous which would not be allowed into this facility would include reactive waste such as oxidizing materials, flammable waste, corrosive waste, leachable or environmentally hazardous waste (such as heavy metals), poisonous or toxic waste, radioactive waste and biomedical waste.

There would be a waste approval and screening process put in place as well, to help police the materials to ensure that it is non-hazardous. The waste generator has to fill out an approval application, and submit it to analysis by WasteWorks. If the waste is approved, the generator would then be issued a code and waste manifests to bring the waste in. Screening at the site would include scalehouse screening, and waste sampling and analysis from every 500 tonnes of waste.

Mayor Don Schlosser noted that Hazco's CEO gave the presentation to council in committee two weeks before, and will be present at the public meeting to answer any questions people may have about the plan.

He said if the agreement with Hazco is approved, it would be very beneficial to the city in terms of revenue, although he added he wasn't allowed to say what that benefit would be at this time.

Council appointed Jon Michaud as the city's new Director of Finance at Monday's meeting, although he has been at work since March 3.

Michaud has 10 years of management experience, including at College Mathieu and as acting CEO of St. Joseph's Hospital in Estevan.

Most recently he served as town administrator for the Town of Gravelbourg.

Michaud replaces Paul Shupe, who resigned due to personal health reasons.

Council approved a number of tenders, including for a skid steer loader, two vehicles, a new tractor, two mowers and for concrete.

The council also rejected all bids submitted for the supply of gravel, and this item is to be retendered.

In moving to reject the gravel tenders, Coun. Bill Rudachyk commented, "I feel it's not in the best interests of the city," adding that the city should look to support its local suppliers ahead of out-of-town ones.

He said local companies usually provide in-kind services to the city and community, but out-of-town companies do not, while at the same time the council must protect the city against exorbitant bids.

Coun. Kalman disagreed with rejecting the tenders, noting they should go with the lowest bid, in this case from S.S. Contracting of Milestone.

On the bids for two vehicles, for which the city is trading in two 1991 Dodge pickups, Coun. Kalman said he was concerned the winning bid from Great Plains Ford only provided a trade-in value of $1,100 total for the two trucks, and suggested the city could get much more by putting the trucks up for auction.

City manager Bob Smith said the city had tried once before seeking their own bids on a vehicle rather than trading it in, but received a very low response.

Mayor Schlosser said he would rather see ads put in requesting bids on the trucks, but it was pointed out the public would have the knowledge of how much the dealerships were willing to give as trade-in value.

When council moved to accept the vehicle bid without trade-in, Smith asked if council would be doing this as a matter of course, or on a per-case basis. Councillors indicated they would consider each case on their own merit. The motion was passed 5-2 in favour of accepting the vehicle bid, and the trucks will go up for auction along with the bike and equipment auction later this year.

Council also accepted the bids of two adjacent property owners to buy the 10-foot-wide sidewalk right-of-way between 13th and 14th Streets. Michael and Karryn Kubashek's offer of $503, and Bob Rasmuson's bid of $100 were both accepted. The sidewalks were put up for tender after concerns were raised in the neighbourhoods about vandalism and weed growth.

Council approved new regulations for portable signs, after the rules were explained by Community Services manager Doug Mulhall.

The revised regulations call for a one-time $30 fee per sign and an annual licence tag; originally, the city had proposed $1 a day for when portable signs were on display, but this met with opposition from sign owners in the city.

Mulhall pointed out the main point of the regulations was one of safety, as they regulate where a portable sign may or may not be set up. He estimated there are approximately 30 four-by-eight-foot signs around the city which would fall under the regulations.

Asked if there is a definition of portable sign for the purpose of these regulations, Mulhall said it would not include sandwich boards put out on a sidewalk advertising a store's specials or a Red Wings game; for now the rules will only be directed at the four-by-eight-foot signs.

In other council business:

· The city's new development plan and zoning bylaws were both given first and second reading, and the third reading was put off until April 28 to allow for public input. Coun. Ray Hamm noted his Weyburn 2020 strategic planning group has been working on this project for about nine years, and involved input by most of the city's organizations and groups.

· The city granted a piece of city property to the Weyburn Comprehensive School board, to allow for the relocation and construction of a new running track. The new track is to accommodate the 2004 Saskatchewan Summer Games, and the new location will be west of the current location around the Darold Kot football field.

· Progress on the ethanol plant, Wal-Mart and the new seed-cleaning plant are all proceeding according to schedule, Mayor Schlosser told council; retrofitting of the old distillery for ethanol production should begin within a month with a portion of the facility to be up by late summer. For Wal-Mart, tenders for the earthwork will close on March 19, and the project is on schedule so far.