St. Stephen is looking to remove clothing donation bins from municipal property.
A report from Chief Administrative Officer Jeff Renaud said the removal of the clothing bins were requested by the council due to property maintenance, misuse, and lack of formal agreements with bin operators.
“Like any good problem, the more you peel the onion, the more layers you find,” he said to the council. “However, the bins have shown up over the many years, I think there were a lot of verbal approvals, perhaps over time. We don’t have any documented agreements, or at least we can’t locate any.”
Renaud told the council it raises concerns about liability.
“If we’re not covered from a liability point-of-view, that’s a problem,” he said to the council on July 16.
He explained many of the land the bins are located on are being considered for redevelopment.
“My office is suggesting that they be removed with some kind of deadline that the council can establish,” he said.
Mayor Allan MacEachern asked if the bins were removed from municipal properties whether they would just pop up somewhere else, which the council “would have no control over.”
Renaud explained there are criteria being built into the zoning bylaw slated to come before council at the end of July.
Coun. Emily Rodas told the council she would like to see the bins removed no later than Oct. 1.
“I do think it gets more dangerous in the winter time iIf somebody is trying to get in and gets stuck and it’s cold,” she said.
Council asked staff to move forward with removal of the bins and it will come before council in two weeks.
