A familiar face and a familiar complaint led to some deja-vu moments at city hall Thursday night.
A special budget meeting was held which included a presentation from local businessman and developer J.P. Legault, who is asking for the city to lower its tipping fees.
He brought copies of the tipping fees for the Town of Smooth Rock Falls, 103 kilometres north of Timmins, where he has been sending contaminated sand.
"I'm cleaning up the corner of Wilson and Cameron, I bought that years ago. Nobody knew what the situation was there. We knew there was a contamination," he said.
The parcel of land Legault is referring to is the site of a former gas station, smack dab in the middle of a busy commercial area. Legault said there were a much greater number of truckloads of soil to remove than he originally anticipated. He was sending numerous trucks to Smooth Rock Falls, where the fees for dumping contaminated waste are more agreeable for him. After being informed that the Smooth Rock Falls dump 'was full', he was forced to send the trucks to the Deloro landfill on Pine Street South.
"We knew the tipping fees in Timmins were very expensive, because I was up here before to look at this, and to see how outrageous it was," referring to his appearance at council in November of 2015, where he made the exact same complaint.
He then got up and did another lap around the chambers, this time handing out copies of a bill he received from the City of Timmins. He did not provide copies to the media.
"Again, I'm not here for handouts. I don't need nobody's money, I got my own. But I just don't like spending money stupidly," he said.
"Because if I don't spend it the right way, then I can't keep going with this development that I'm doing. Because there's several properties that I'm looking at buying, because I'm in that 'mode' again," said Legault.
The entrepreneur not so subtly proclaimed his impact in the community.
"I don't want to argue, but I've spent a lot of money in this town, and I've lost a lot of money all over."
He was less than thrilled with the massive cost to dispose of the contaminated dirt, which he said is utilized by landfill staff to cover up trash heaps.
"Somebody came up with a price of $75 a tonne here," said Legault.
"I sent 40 trucks to Smooth Rock Falls, and it cost me $16,000. I send 40 to the City of Timmins, and I'm going to get a bill for $100,000. Now if I have to pay it, I'll pay it, of course, because I'm developing that property."
Legault said Sudbury tipping fees compare with Smooth Rock Falls, and also mentioned North Bay, and Toronto. He said he 'could go spend money there' if the tipping fees remain where they are.
"I'm not saying I'm going to leave, I'm going to have to stop," he said, but added that if he does spend money, he'd prefer to spend it in his hometown of Timmins.
Councillor Mike Doody was the first to respond, and had the same sentiments he expressed when Legault appeared in November 2015.
"As you can see, J.P. is very passionate about what he does," said Doody, and praised Legault for being 'a great developer' in the city.
"When we're presented with something like this, I certainly think it behooves us to take a look at it," he said.
Doody cryptically referenced a 'special deal' with the developer of the former St. Mary's Hospital site, which is now an Autumnwood seniors home.
Legault says that the Town of Smooth Rock Falls does a much better job than Timmins of keeping its tipping fees reasonable. Andrew Autio for TimminsToday "I won't go into complete details, but one very, very close to city hall, when they were developing that particular building, the old hospital, the person who developed it, because of the project, we did give a special deal for taking it away to the landfill site. So certainly I think when you present us with these type of figures, at least we owe you the obligation of at least taking a look at it, and I think we'll do that," said Doody.
Legault responded by stating that he wasn't looking for special treatment, and that he was thinking beyond his own interests to other developers who might be scared off of cleaning up contaminated properties with the current state of tipping fees.
Councillor Pat Bamford had a rebuttal to offer Legault regarding how council set the fees 'awhile back'.
"I remember them being favourably compared to the major cities in the North," he said, which is also exactly what Bamford stated during the November 2015 discussion.
"The numbers that I remember, they were within $5, $10 of each other. So let's says our is $75, theirs may have been $65, or $85," said Bamford.
"Nope," replied Legault.
"Your fees are 'astronomous' compared to everybody else."
He said that something needs to be done, casually settling for 'even half' of the tipping fees. He also pointed out that he also would prefer to see the army of trucks travelling short distances rather than long, as it keeps the highways that much safer for everyone.
Legault said he'd personally prepare another document with price quotes from landfill sites around the province, and send it to city staff.
Mayor Steve Black said he would direct staff to review previous reports, and the justification for the current tipping fees.
"If you could, send the file of where your options are. I believe the last time we discussed it, there was some discussions on municipal dumps, and private dumps, and different things that come into play. But it would be good to have that file, and ensure that the numbers we have for those locations match what's in your file. If not, we can make a call and see why we get different rates when we call, or you get different rates when you call," said Black.
The item will be back on Monday's agenda.
