There were several reasons provided by town councillors opposed to repealing the garburator ban for new homes but the deciding vote appeared to be in the hands of Mayor Jeff Genung.

At the Feb. 26 council meeting, Mayor Genung held out an olive branch and said he was willing to support a motion seeking further information on the issues surrounding garburators before making a decision but that motion was never made. Instead, Councillor Nagel stuck with his original repeal motion and it went down in defeat by a slim 4-3 margin.

Councillor Marni Fedeyko bluntly questioned why this was even brought to the table. She said she had not received one single bit of feedback on the proposal, neither pro or con and the town had bigger, more pressing issues to deal with.

Councillor Susan Flowers said the focus needs to remain on the town's compost program and that it made sense to stand by the recommendations of the now-defunct town environment committee.

Mayor Genung, who has a garburator, said he was particularly concerned with the volume of water they use and in a community attempting to stretch its water licence that's a sensitive issue.

Councillor Tara McFadden also saw no need to repeal the bylaw.

Nagel, who doesn't have a garburator (though Councilor Alex Reed offered to give him one he recently removed), saw reinstating their use in newly-constructed homes as another option to help the town strive towards its zero waste ambitions. He also believes the bylaw is difficult to enforce. He questioned how it's better for the environment to truck our organic waste to Calgary.

While he recognized there are pro and con arguments that could be made on the issue, he sided with Nagel because he believes the less government involvement in people's lives, the better.

Support was also received by Councilor Patrick Wilson.

The environment committee brought the recommendation to council two years ago and among their rationale was adding further garburators would create higher maintenance for the town's wastewater system that sees the waste piped to Calgary. It is also considered too high on water usage and many people with garburators don't use them properly.