Richmond Hill Regional Councillor Carmine Perrelli has gone to great lengths to let residents know that he intends to bring a motion before council on September 22nd to remove the green/blue bin exchange fee ($8.45) so that residents can “permanently” exchange their broken bins free of charge. Residents have been bombarded with Perrelli emails, flyers, ads and videos to let us know of this "heroic" action.
But why did Perrelli vote against removing this bin exchange fee when Councillor West first introduced it at the Budget meeting on November 10, 2020?
Listen to Councillors West and Perrelli speak at the November 10th Budget meeting about the bin exchange fee.
Why has Councillor Perrelli made such an about face?
Perrelli went from "I see how the garbage people treat our bins and they're pretty respectful" to "bins are damaged through aggressive collection methods".
And from "it is a well-known fact that people use the blue boxes and the green bins for other things" to "residents should not be charged a fee on a circumstance over which they have no control".
Sounds similar to what Councillor West said on November 10th "I find people are very offended that they would have to pay for something that they didn't break and I have to say I sympathize with them" yet Perrelli voted against the motion at that time.
Did Councillor Perrelli deliberately vote against removing the exchange fee in November 2020 in order to hold his so-called Environment Day Event in May 2021 where he (figuratively speaking) rides in on his white horse to take credit for rescuing residents from this expense?
The answer may be in the timing of the “events”.
It would seem that Councillor Perrelli, who suggested at an April 14th 2021 meeting (timestamp 1:18:48 & 1:25:52), that he had been planning what turned out to be his “Environment Day Event”, for more than six months (October 2020).
This would mean that he was already planning this Enviro event prior to voting against Councillor West’s motion to remove the bin exchange fee on November 10, 2020.
Had Councillor West’s motion succeeded it would have seriously impacted Councillor Perrelli’s plans where sponsors were already secured to cover the costs of his main activity for his planned event… which was to offer free exchange for damaged or broken green/blue bins to Richmond Hill residents.
Whether true or not and regardless of whether or not his motion passes on September 22nd, it would certainly appear that the seemingly manufactured bin exchange crisis by Councillor Perrelli has gotten what he wanted from this sequence of events which is self promotion, obtaining your contact information and beefing up his election profile.
Be aware that like all Councillor Perrelli "free giveaway" events they are far from free. They cost Richmond Hill residents hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. Maybe not the cost of the masks or blue bins but in advertising costs, mailing and printing costs and in city staff costs.
An added note:
At the September 8, 2021 meeting Councillor Perrelli said that he wanted to "to reconsider the motion that was brought up by Councillor West to remove the fee for bin replacement" (timestamp 2:09:25) although as you can see by his motion there is no mention of Councillor West and reconsideration of his motion from the November 10, 2020 meeting.