Council approves temporary porta potties for downtown core

Jun 24, 2019 | 8:00 PM

In an effort to reduce the amount of human waste found on city streets, Vernon City Council voted to install two portable toilets in the downtown core at its council meeting on Monday.

The support for the porta potties came after plans to implement two Portland Loo public washrooms stalled.

In a report to council, the city said the timing hiccup started after they realized that the toilets were built by a U.S manufacturer, and that it would take an estimated nine months before the toilets could be used.

As a result, staff underwent a procurement process to see if a company could manufacture a similar product.

“There were two companies that put in comments to the notice of intent saying that they had products that could be used in their place and we researched these products and they were not what we wanted,” Shirley Koenig, the director of operation services, said.

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“We wanted something that was stainless steel, we want something that you can see underneath, we want something that is easy to maintain, something that we don’t have to spend a lot of money on maintenance,” she said.

The city is now in talks with a local company to build a washroom facility that will be in place by the end of August on 30^th Avenue.

Council stressed the need for more public toilets in the meantime.

“I think we need temporary toilets that go in right away, we fully expect that these other ones will be in place this summer. If not, I think we need them, I think they come with some extra maintenance but we are fully aware of that,” Mayor Victor Cumming said.

City staff recommended rejecting the idea of portable toilets out of vandalism concerns.

The portable toilets, proposed for Linear Park would contain no sharps containers, and would only be subject to once a day cleaning as opposed to every two hours like other public washrooms.

Coun. Scott Anderson echoed the city’s concerns about vandalism and said the toilets may become an easy target for vandals.

“It’s unfortunate that we have to put iron-plated toilets out to avoid having them wrecked,” Anderson said.

The two-month placement for the portable toilets will cost the city approximately $1,500 a month.

Coun. Kari Gares put forward a motion to have the expense taken out of the budget already earmarked for the Portland Loos, as opposed to dipping into the unexpended and uncommitted balance fund, which is used to fund other initiatives.

The Portland Loos were estimated to cost $165,000, but the new manufacturer indicated a price of $75,000 to $100,000 to construct the new toilets.

The push for more public washrooms arose after a recommendation by the Activate Safety Task Force last year.

by Tiffany Goodwein

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