Septage remains a messy issue for north Simcoe municipalities following Midland’s decision to stop receiving external sources, and Coun. Dave Brunelle of Tiny Township attempted to wade in during the recent committee of the whole meeting.
Through Tiny public works director Tim Leitch, the municipalities of Tiny Township, Tay Township and Penetanguishene sent a request to Midland asking for a three-month extension to the early June deadline; Midland declined, citing 32 reasons for their decision.
Brunelle spoke at the recent meeting with an intent to resurrect a septage class environment assessment project advisory committee, which was removed as a municipal committee in 2022.
“We need to do something about this septage agreement that is – septage acceptance response and no extension granted,” stated Brunelle. “So now we need to be proactive, we need to do something about it.”
The proposal to re-establish the committee had been initially raised by Deputy Mayor Sean Miskimins in December once Midland’s announcement was made, but Brunelle pressed Leitch on the constitution of the former committee.
“That was county-driven, through consultants that were brought on board, and we were a member of that particular working group,” said Leitch. “I’ll be honest; when I joined the township in 2016, the committee was already moving forward.”
Brunelle stated that he had been informed differently prior to the meeting and was getting “two different answers here”. When he reiterated the need for a township-run septage committee, Coun. Kelly Helowka asked a question of clarification.
“Coun. Brunelle, you’re aware that there are 500 holding tanks in the township; so you want a special committee to deal with septage for those 500?” Helowka asked.
It was a point which Brunelle didn’t shy away from, once again responding: “I know this is a provincial mandate when it comes down to the septic fields…. By November, we have to have an answer for the people, our residents, about the septage management at that time.”
Mayor Dave Evans explained that the matter was both a township issue as well as a county issue, with solutions impacting other neighbouring municipalities. He sided with Brunelle that action needed to be taken, but shared his view that county support would be needed.
“I just want to temper the expectations that if we create a committee, we want to be able to give it a good chance at success,” Evans told Brunelle. “I don’t want to create a committee and say: ‘You’ve got to go solve this issue’.”
Brunelle offered that the township should look at creating a Tiny waste treatment plant. “If other people want to bring their septage, there’ll be a cost for them; revenue generating.”
Agreeing with Brunelle on the proactivity angle was Miskimins, although the mention of constructing a treatment plan prompted the deputy mayor to provide a wider perspective.
“I think we need to not look at it at the micro level. I think this is more of a macro level. Rural municipalities across Ontario are facing a similar issue,” said Miskimins.
“When we start talking about waste treatment plants, all I see is hundreds of millions of dollars. I think we need to attack this more from 39,000-foot level where all rural municipalities can potentially partnership, to basically spread out the cost of this.”
As a final bid to re-establish the committee, Brunelle reiterated his stance, adding: “We’re back to where we were ten years ago. Maybe even a worse position, perhaps. But we can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results.”
To provide clarity, Leitch spoke up about his involvement with the other north Simcoe municipalities since Midland’s announcement, and emphasized that it had been a topic of discussion for viable short, medium, and long-term solutions.
“I just wanted to make sure that Coun. Brunelle knows that we are not at zero,” stated Leitch. “I’ve been on this for the past three months.
“Staff has proceeded without a committee, without having a group of people together. We recognize the issue, we recognize the importance that it has on our residents and on the township,” said Leitch.
The correspondence exchange between Midland and the township was then accepted and received by the committee of the whole as information.
The septage extension communications between Midland and Tiny can be viewed on the agenda page on the Township of Tiny website.
Archives of council meetings are available to view on the township’s YouTube channel.
