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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Lloyd Lush says he feels the city is being unfair in its disposal of scrap metal from the public works facility.

Lloyd Lush said he feels the city is not supporting his business because it is selling scrap metal to a man from Edmonton. He said he relies on this product for his business. - Jason Emiry/NNSL photo

Lush has been trying for three years to gain access to waste products from public works. These materials include old streetlights and other items that the city places in a bin at the public works garage.

"They have been phoning a guy in Edmonton to come up and get the scrap. I also found out that they paid the freight to ship it out last year to him," said Lush.

Lush received a letter Jan. 2 of this year from the mayor stating Lush had given the city a verbal quote of what he would pay for the metal.

The letter said Jim Gauthier in Edmonton had offered the city a better price. Gauthier is a former resident of Yellowknife.

"I did not give a verbal quote," said Lush.

When Lush first heard about the scrap metal at public works he said he was told the city had a verbal contract with a business in Edmonton until the end of 2006. He said the city gave him a verbal guarantee he would have access to the scrap metal. He accepted the decision and came back in the spring of 2007.

"They said, 'well we didn't realize that we had a two-year contract with the business in Edmonton,'" said Lush.

He said he was told he should wait a little longer. The city was going to be changing some water meters over the summer, so there would be more metal available. Lush returned to the public works facility in November last year to see if he could get the metal.

"I went to the garage (at public works) to inquire about my company getting the scrap and was told that they had phoned the same guy in Edmonton, Jim Gauthier, to pick it up," said Lush. "This was a complete slap in the face to me and my company and very discouraging. How much did the city get paid for it? I was ready to buy it."

Lush heard Gauthier was going to come up from Edmonton to get this year's scrap metal so he went to city hall. Clem Hand, procurement services manager of Yellowknife public works, called Lush and told him the city would auction off the metal.

Lush said he feels this scrap should be his. He has a contract to access scrap in restricted areas of the city's baling facility, has $2 million in insurance, a substantial payroll and a valid business license.

The city indicated to Yellowknifer that it intends to sell the scrap off this fall.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem said the city holds a sale once a year to sell old vehicles and other things. The scrap metal will be available at the auction. He hopes the sale will resolve the issues surrounding the scrap.

"It's become he says, he says," said Van Tighem. "There will be a sale at the end of the year that will not involve any verbal quotes. There was some discussion in the tending bid thing. That has risen his questions a couple of times. We'll just do (it) as part of the overall function and there won't be any questions. The big challenge is if you're running an operation, one person's garbage is another person's livelihood."

Hand said public works used to just throw scrap metal in with the garbage at the landfill. The city workers started to separate the materials into bins at public works.

"I have no idea why they did that, but maybe it wasn't the best thing to be throwing that stuff straight into the landfill," said Hand.

"We had a gentleman express an interest in what was going into the bin about three or four years ago. When this guy stated an interest there was a verbal agreement made between our guy in stores and Jim (Gauthier). He would come and pick up the scrap and we would get 50 per cent of the profits," said Hand.

"It was decided to look for quotes because another local business was also interested in the scrap."

He said Cameco, Jim Gauthier and Lush all made bids. Gauthier made the best offer.

In 2005 the city's revenue from scrap metal was $1,025, in 2006 it was $2,000 and in 2007 it was about $1,500.