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‘A dispute between two neighbours’

By Mark Squibb/March 31, 2022

Spaniard’s Bay councillors had to wrestle with a knotty situation at last week’s public council meeting.

“I’ve got an e-mail here from a resident complaining that their neighbour has a very untidy garbage box and has been using their garbage box (too) to the point that they’ve had to put a lock on their garbage box until the night before pick-up,” reported Town Manger Tony Ryan.

Councillor Eric Jewer allowed that as the boxes are privately owned, there is little the town can do about it.

“That’s a dispute between two neighbours,” said Jewer.

Councillor Tony Dominix, who was attending the meeting by telephone, agreed that it wasn’t an issue for council to deal with.

Jewer added that any garbage piled up outside the box, “would probably be picked up.”

Councilor Darlene Stamp, however, reminded her colleagues that in times past, council has issued orders to residents to clean up their garbage boxes.

Jewer argued that in the one instance he could remember, it was scrap metal, not household garbage. He maintained that garbage outside the box will be collected.

“I’m looking at a picture here of two garbage boxes side-by-side with a little garbage in between them,” summarized Jewer.

Stamp agreed the Town can do little to keep someone from putting garbage into their neighbour’s box but said they could write a letter to that person reminding them to keep their own box tidy.

There was some further back-and-forth on whether town staff would collect garbage outside the box or not, before council unanimously voted to send a letter to the resident requesting that they keep their box tidy.

Found amongst the garbage sprawling between the two boxes were wood boards, a mop head, and a handful of butter tubs.

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