Chatham-Kent's council is reversing a decision to remove dust control services across the municipality.
Council met on Monday, approving a motion from Councillor Michael Bondy to bring back the suppressants. He explained he did so after hearing from rural residents directly impacted by the amount of dust coming from gravel roads.
Mayor Darrin Canniff and Councillors Conor Allin and Brock McGregor were the only ones to vote against the motion. Councillor Amy Finn was not in attendance, while Councillor Jon Wright did not vote since he works for the company that previously provided the dust control services for the municipality.
Those hoping the services will start up immediately will be disappointed as the municipality will start a tender process that could take weeks or potentially months to finish.
Edward Soldo, CK’s general manager of infrastructure and engineering services, explained it's likely work won't start until September. He also said it would be impossible to do 100 per cent of the work.
Councillor Melissa Harrigan, who did vote in favour of Bondy's motion, did have some concerns about starting so late.
"I can already see the social media posts saying, 'Look at Chatham-Kent finally putting the dust suppressants when Fall's about to arrive,'" she said.
Harrigan was one of several Councillors who mentioned that the original vote to cut the services was done too quickly. Council approved the cut during the 2025 budget deliberations after being told by CK's administration that the work was virtually useless. The cut resulted in around $1.3 million being cut from the budget, or 0.8 per cent from the tax rate.
Funding any work done in 2025 will be the municipality's strategic reserve. At this time, it's not known how much will be needed since 100 per cent of the work can't be done.
Before council voted on Bondy's motion, four residents expressed their concerns with the lack of dust suppressants. One of these individuals was Beth Gladstone who called the lack of services a safety issue.
"The consistent volume of cars and large trucks creates dense clouds of dust, which increases the risk of accidents," she said.
Her concerns were echoed by Betty Stirling.
"There are days when the dust is so thick that it feels like we're living in a thick haze," she explained.
Stirling also mentioned a time that her neighbour purposely drove into a ditch to avoid an accident since the dust made it impossible to see anything.
Meanwhile, council also voted in favour of having CK's administration bring back a report for the 2026 budget deliberations that outlines all the potential positives and negatives of dust control services.
The report is expected to share what products work best, what other communities do to control dust, and the cost of the service moving forward.