It wasn't Councillor Bob Masse's top priority in the election campaign, but garbage became the "defining" issue of his campaign.

This is why he insisted when the matrix - council schedule - was discussed at last week's council meetings that a full discussion about garbage collection take place in April - when Kim Day, executive director of Ridge Meadows Recycling Society, will come to talk to council about recycling kitchen scraps and yard waste.

When he was campaigning in the fall to be elected councillor for Maple Ridge, Masse heard from a lot of people frustrated about the lack of municipal garbage pickup.

He has collected data from 16 communities about the costs of municipal garbage collection and he believes a system could be implemented, integrating recyc-ling as well, that would cost less than $20 a month.

"It's not just about garbage," Masse said. "It's about how the system works together."

While he said there are many people who are "tremendously loyal" to the recycling society, he doesn't think having municipal garbage pickup will detract from recycling.

"I don't think people having garbage pickup provided by the municipality... is going to cause less recycling," Masse said.

In April, Day will be at council to present options on how to recycle green waste, something that will be banned from Metro Vancouver landfills by 2015.

Currently, residents have the choice of contracting out their garbage pickup or taking it to the transfer station.

The discussion around food scraps and kitchen waste is only one of many "meaty" issues - as Mayor Ernie Daykin termed them - on the table for council in 2012.

Maple Ridge council approved what they call the "matrix," their work schedule, at last Tuesday's council meeting after some discussion about adding a Hammond neighbourhood plan to the mix.

Coun. Judy Dueck would like to stay focused on the commercial/industrial review and the Albion Flats plan that are on the schedule for the first half of this year.

"We need jobs in the community that will provide a living wage for families and keep our citizens from having to commute outside to work," Dueck said.

"We need to support business that will employ the highest number of people per acre, for example, the hightech industry."

For Coun. Cheryl Ashlie, job creation is also top of mind, and therefore she'd like to stay focused on the Albion Flats, the commercial amd industrial review, the municipally owned downtown property, and Silver Valley.

But she'd also like to see issues addressed that were raised during the election in regards to traffic, walkabil-ity, transportation strategies, and housing strategy, but also "cost containment" at the local, regional, provincial, and federal levels.

"I feel strongly that people have reached the tipping point as far as taxes and fees from all levels of government, and we need to mitigate that as much as possible moving forward," Ashlie said.

She's "very pleased" with the matrix, something she initiated at the council table, after her years on school board.

"The matrix captures all of the issues that the public, council, and staff have identified as being of importance the previous year," Ashlie said. "I also believe it provides a great communication tool for the public, so they can see the work that we are doing on their behalf."

Daykin's top priorities are to keep the Albion process moving forward, start the commercial and industrial review, and to finish the outstanding bylaw reviews.

The commercial and industrial review will give details on any vacant or under-utilized land that's "ripe" for redevelopment in Maple Ridge, Daykin said.

"My sense is that we have a fair amount of under-utilized land that is ripe for re-development; this will be confirmed through the process," Daykin said. "From there, council can develop a strategy to encourage redevelopment of that inventory."

While the Albion Flats is one of the bigger issues in front of Maple Ridge council, there is a plethora of other issues that it plans to tackle in the next six months.

A $500,000 budget item is on the schedule, to be dealt with in late February: traffic calming is planned for River Road, Shady Lane, and 132nd Avenue, where residents have been complaining about excess speeding and commuters taking shortcuts through their residential neighbourhoods.

In September, Maple Ridge council has to develop a regional context statement to go with Metro Vancouver's new Regional Growth Strategy, which council signed on to last year.

Council is also reviewing its bylaws this year. In March, it will review proposed amendments to the business license bylaw, and in April, it will look at the sign bylaw. Zoning bylaws will be looked at in March.

In April, council will look at a bear aware program. Last year, after a bear was shot in Maple Ridge Park, Maple Ridge citizens started demanding a bear aware program.

Recreational vehicles and tents will be on council's agenda in early March.

Last year, many RV owners were angry because they were told to remove vehicles that were larger than permitted from their properties.

In March, council will have a policy discussion on servicing developing areas, and it will review its downtown property, the three-acre parcel it bought last year between the Haney Place and Valley Fair malls.

In December, council voted to forego its salary increase for 2012. Councillors Ashlie and Michael Morden both voted against the initial increases in July, which were set for the incoming council, as both said the policy of comparing to other municipalities wasn't appropriate.

According to the schedule, council will review its policy governing council compensation in early March.

Adding a Hammond neighbourhood plan to council's schedule was brought up by Councillor Al Hogarth, who pointed out at the council meeting that residents in Hammond have expressed an interest in developing a neighbourhood plan.

District of Maple Ridge staff weren't able to commit to adding that to the matrix, given the number of items, but the planning department will bring it up again at next week's workshop.

COUNCIL MATRIX

Highlights*

February 6: Building bylaw

February 20: Commercial/ industrial review

February 20: Neighbourhood traffic calming

March 5: Council compensation, recreational vehicles and tents

March 19: Business license, servicing developing areas, municipal property downtown

April 2: Bear aware program, secondary suites, sign bylaw

April 16: Parks and rec master plan, resident-only parking

April 30: Transportation plan, flood plan fill, food waste, and yard trimmings

May 14: Affordable housing, business planning

June 4: Silver Valley parks, dog control bylaw

June 18: TransLink update

* This is not a complete list of items, and dates may change, depending on District of Maple Ridge staff time and availability of information.

mrantanen@mrtimes.com