It was a motion that left councillors looking at administration for answers and administration looking to councillors for clarification.  A motion approved Monday night to redefine what a "problem spot" is when it comes to curbside garbage collection has the potential to completely freeze the entire program, sending trash cans back into rear lanes.

The night started with a motion from Councillor Don Mitchell that would have excluded areas deemed as "challenging" from curbside collection for a year and exempt areas developed before 1960. Mitchell's proposal also included that residents in post-1960 subdivisions be given an option to appeal to Executive Committee, where 75% or more residents in a block sign a petition.

As the debate got going, there was clear division on the issue with Mayor Fraser Tolmie along with Councillors Dawn Luhning and Crystal Froese opposing any more changes to an already confusing roll out that was approved back in the spring during budget talks.  Tolmie questioned why these concerns weren't raised months ago, saying the program hasn't even been given a chance to succeed and some members of council are already making major changes.

Councillor Dawn Luhning also questioned the timing of the changes saying council is getting too much into managing the city when elected officials are supposed to set policy and trust city administration with the implementation.

The debate took a quick turn when Councillor Chris Warren took his turn at the microphone, saying he supported curbside from the start, he still does but thinks they made a mistake with the rollout.

"The problem that I'm seeing is that I just don't think that we went far enough when it comes to identifying the challenged areas." said Warren. "There are many properties that aren't orientated to curbside pick up and go well beyond narrow streets or the plus three steps (for a retaining wall)."

During the meeting it was revealed that Councillor Mitchell's motion that used pre-1960 areas as the definition for problems spots, would essentially eliminate most of the city and render the program useless.  Warren seemed to agree, saying it was too vague and instead moved an amendment:

"Effective August 1st, 2017, that challenged areas identified by city engineering for continued alley pick up service be expanded to include the following criteria; blocks where more than 20% of homes do not have front street driveways, blocks where there is an excess of on street parking, blocks where the road widths are defined as narrow streets, blocks where on street parking lanes do not exist and blocks where more than 20% of the homes contain retaining walls and are more than one step from the yard to the curb."

The motion being retroactive sent immediate confusion through city administration who tried to explain that it took four months for them to evaluate the city for the current problem areas, and the changes being proposed would undo all of that work immediately, forcing them to re-draw maps and routes.  City Manager Matt Noble suggested that it was impossible to change overnight since Area 2 had collection set for the next morning (Tuesday) and the changed criteria would impact some of those areas.

"But when you strip it right down... it just added the driveway piece, the no parking lane and the narrow streets were expanded on. Really, when you go back to the original motion that was approved... we're still supporting curbside but what we've really done is we've utilized that feedback." replied Warren.

Mayor Tolmie, sensing the confusion, attempted to delay the motion twice with a referral and tabling motion to try and get clarity on the impact of the new definitions.  His attempts were defeated each time and the new motion was finally passed.

"There's major changes here... to stand here and tell us that there is no impact is not fair and not correct." City Manager Matt Noble said following the vote. "We're in a state of confusion here, in the meantime we had a consultation slated for this week and that should be cancelled because the criteria is no longer relevant. We have new direction and it'll take us some time to make sure where we're at. In the meantime, that'll mean it'll be back to the old norm until we can properly adhere to the direction."

The City Manager's comments prompted more questions from councillors who asked if their colleagues understood what had just happened.

"I don't think anybody here understands where we're really going and to be fair, I don't think administration knows where we're going." said Councillor Luhning. "Where this is going right now, is a complete, and I can't say it, but this is a mess."

"I agree with Councillor Luhning and a few others and this just seems like a ball of mess." said Mayor Tolmie.

"We have no idea what the impact of all this is going to be but I can advise you that there aren't going to be cost savings, there are going to be increased costs. By the time we're done analyzing this and exempting... to be honest, this criteria is looking like an administrative nightmare."

Following the meeting, Councillor Warren was asked if he understood the impact of his motion being retroactive and the concerns that administration had raised. "My recommendation is that we continue on with status quo (and) at some point... there will have to be a revamp."

When pressed about the fact that the motion changes the definition of areas for front street curbside just hours before trucks were set to pick up Area 2, Warren suggested that his motion wouldn't impact collection and that it's something that can be changed on the fly as it's reviewed.

Citizens in the gallery were left confused as well with several approaching members of council following the meeting and asking if they put their bins on the street or in the alley. Some councillors didn't know what to say, suggesting they speak with administration for clarity but a meeting of Executive Committee that included in-camera, private meetings, prevented that from happening immediately.

It wasn't until 10:30pm, more than an hour after the motion had been approved, that we were able to get some clarification from the City Manager.

" I don't know how we can amend a practice retroactively, it's something that we've been doing up until today. Certainly that adds some confusion but the fact that there were five criteria that differ... that means each house and each property have to be looked at independently."

After taking some time to think about how to move ahead with collection on Tuesday, considering the late hour and the fact that members of the public knew about the changes already, Noble said due to the confusion over the motion, they will monitor both front and back collection for Area 2 on Tuesday.

The rest of the week will be collected as per normal since those areas were not set for change over until next month. Plans for curbside on Monday in Area 1 will be announced later this week when the motion is better understood.