A convoy of municipal trucks rolled through the City of Courtenay on Wednesday as dozens of workers from the public works and parks departments collected residential yard waste.
It was supposed to be picked up by Emterra Environmental, a company contracted by the city, but that hasn’t happened in weeks.
So after countless missed pickups and delays, the city decided it was time to step in.
“What we’re asking people to do is just be as patient as possible,” said Courtenay Mayor Bob Wells. “What the city has committed to is in the next two days we’re going to go out and do those pick-ups and then we’ll see how it goes.”
Wells says it’s only a temporary fix to a problem that’s been festering all summer.
“It’s gotten to the point where we’re getting complaints on a very regular basis,” he said. “It’s taken a toll on city staff, for a service that’s really contracted out.”
Emterra Environmental did not return a call from CHEK News before our deadline but we’re told the problem is a common one right now and that finding people to work is extremely difficult.
“You know there have been some heat-related issues that have exacerbated it but they certainly aren’t the root cause, really right now it’s just a staffing issue,” added Wells.
Many other industries are hurting from a lack of staff as well. Anyone in the retail or food industry knows firsthand that finding workers is extremely difficult.
At the Fanny Bay Inn, owner Roxanne O’Brien was offering $500 bonuses three weeks ago and couldn’t even get a resume. She has since hired for some positions but could still use more staff.
“Yeah, I was pretty desperate because working seven days a week from open to close was getting pretty tiring so I had to come up with some innovative things to do,” O’Brien told CHEK News.
The problem according to many people is the Canada Recovery Benefit that followed Canada Emergency Response Benefit and paid $2,000 a month. It is now down to $1200 a month and ends in October.
“It’s just sad that a lot of these small businesses are having to basically compete with the government for employees,” said Jay Pastuck as he was leaving the Fanny Bay Inn.
Back in Courtenay, the mayor says you can download a city app to keep up to date with collection schedules.
Dean Stoltz
