A Nelson mayoral candidate has a long list of issues he says are of concern to residents, including the garbage pick-up system.
“This council has been ineffective when it comes to a variety of issues,” says Tom Prior. “I have been around for 40 years and I am astonished at some of the ways issues have been tackled.”
Prior has prioritized issues such as housing, parking, garbage disposal, and drug use.
“I have never seen such a poorly managed garbage system where we collect it once every two weeks, and we have to pay to have it collected,” says Prior. “Tagging every bag is a tax grab, and once a government gets money from taxes they don’t want to let it go.”
Prior is planning to repeal the garbage tagging if he is elected, or at least change the policy.
“I have lived all over the country and nowhere else has a system in place like this.”
“I could see tagging an additional bag outside of the usual pickup, but this is not ideal especially when we are trying to deal with pests.”
Nelson’s gets a bi-weekly garbage and recycling pick up. Each collected bag cost residents $1.75.
Prior is running against incumbent John Dooley, Janice Morrison, Mike Zeabin, and John Buffery.