Mono Council spent close to an hour Tuesday hammering out the revisions it would like to see in a proposed county bylaw that would have Dufferin assume authority for the establishment, operation and delivery of waste collection and treatment programs within the county.

The bylaw is aimed at establishing a plasma-assisted gasification plant at the 200- acre Dufferin Eco Energy Park (DEEP), located on the town line between Amaranth and East Luther Grand Valley.

The motion eventually passed by council focused in large part on the future of the town’s landfill site. Since it is several years away from being filled to capacity, it is still considered a valuable municipal asset.

Should the county take over waste systems and redirect waste to a plant, the landfill would become a municipal liability with money needed to pay for its closure and rehabilitation.

The motion, initially moved by Councillor Bob Shirley, stated: “While council supports the county efforts in principle to provide waste disposal for municipalities who do not have a SLFS (sanitary landfill site), and is prepared to sacrifice its SLFS asset to assist this process, the town does not also volunteer to both lose the effective value of that asset, compounded by paying to close and monitor it prematurely.”

As well, council wants to see a timeline attached to the county bylaw, pertaining to when the drafted waste bylaw will either become effective or expire. The Mono motion suggests a deadline date of March 31, 2014.

This would allow lower-tier municipalities with an SLFS to continue with ongoing investment and development programs for their landfill sites with the certainty that, if they need to make a significant investment, they can do so without fear the county could step in and take authority for disposal; therefore making the investment a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Council’s motion also called for the county to obtain a legal opinion concerning the validity of the bylaw and its contents prior to the passage of the bylaw.

As well, council would like a legal opinion on the validity of current municipality authority over waste disposal and how such certificates of approval would be altered if waste disposal authority were transferred to the county under the proposed bylaw.

The revised motion was moved by Mr. Shirley, seconded by Councillor Laura Ryan and passed unanimously by the rest of council with the exception of Jean Castel, who was absent.