The City of Niagara Falls is backing down on plans to break apart from the region when it comes to garbage collection.
Previously Niagara Falls Council had been planning to go it alone for waste collection, with some councillors feeling the city could do a better job than the region.
During today's Public Works Committee meeting Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati but forward a motion that would see Niagara Falls back down in return for a third party consultant review of the system.
"We were still in support of weekly service. We're standing down on that. We're standing down on the legal perspective because it would have got ugly. We're standing down. So we're asking for a compromise that's fully supported by staff."
Some members of council, including Niagara-On-The-Lake Councillor Gary Zalepa, were not in support of spending money on a consultant.
"But why would we placate by - oh, we'll put an independent consultant on it and everyone would be happy. I'm not comfortable spending more money on a project that's fairly expensive to begin with."
Although several councillors voiced support for Zalepa's reservations, St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik said context is important.
"The last year and a half has been very challenging when it came to waste management. This council was focused not just on a future contract, but a previous contract that was generating a considerable amount of concern with citizens." Sendzik said. "I agree that staff have put a considerable amount of effort into where we are today with the RFP and where it has gone, but I think it would also be important for us as a council to look at making sure what we have decided, that the best practices are being related to the collection and separation and how do we prepare, and how do we improve, which will probably be a challenging period of time for our communities to adjust."
Ultimately, Diodati's motion was broken into two parts.
The first part of the motion in regards to hiring an independent consultant passed by a vote of 11 - 3.
The second part of the motion regarding developing plans to deal with public health and illegal dumping concerns due to every-other-week pick-up garnered unanimous support.