SIDNEY — Information about the city’s snow plan was presented to the Sidney City Council during its Monday evening meeting.
”I know everyone is looking forward to snow,” Street Superintendent Brian Green said in a joking manner. “Winter is coming, and city crews are prepared. Our salt bin is full, equipment and crews will be ready to go when the snow flies.”
Green then spoke to council members about the city’s snow removal policy for the upcoming winter season. His report showed the policy’s mission is to:
• Provide efficient winter maintenance services to residents, businesses and visitors, with safety for all, as the number one priority;
• To keep main thoroughfares clear of snow and ice;
• Work within the budget, utilize salt supplies;
• Keep staff trained and knowledgeable on best winter maintenance practices;
• Keep residents and businesses informed.
Currently, Sidney’s salt dome has approximately 2,000 tons on tons of salt on site, Green said. Last year the city of Sidney was under contract with Cargill for additional inventory at a cost of $47.33 per ton. This year the city is again participating in the Southwest Ohio Purchasers for Government (SWOP4G) with Cargill at the price of $57.33/ton. In 2019, the price of salt was higher at $99.58 per ton.
“Luckily,” Green said, “we did not choose the ODOT bid, which came in later, at $73.57/ton. The city of Sidney averages about 1,200 tons of salt per year.”
The city averages 21 events per year, and has used an average of 1,128 tons over the last 10 years, Green’s report showed. Over the last 10 years, salt has had an average cost of $69.14 per ton.
Green said city staff pre-treats roads before a storm with a brine and beet juice mixture. Staff takes multiple conditions into consideration when creating a plan to treat the roads, such as temperature, forecast, day and time of day, amount of accumulation, wind speed/drifting, etc.
Snow plows go out when there is 4 inches of snow in residential areas, and 2-plus inches of snow on the main roadways, hills, alleys, curves and bridges. The snow policy is to apply ”mild salting” to parking lots, some sidewalks, and in the cemetery; and residential areas, except hills and alleys.
In terms of equipment, the street department has 10, 5-ton dump trucks with snowplows; five, 1-ton dump trucks with snowplows; nine, three-fourth-ton pickup trucks with snowplows; two front-end loaders; three, backhoes; a skid-steer tractor; and two, sidewalk tractors with snowplows or snow-blowers with salt spreaders.
This year’s annual Snow Plow and Transit Roadeo, which helps give drivers a refresher before the winter season begins, is scheduled for Oct. 20-21.
In other business, Barbara Dulworth, community development director, provided a review of the upcoming Zoning Board/Planning Commission Agenda for Monday, Oct. 18. City Manager Mark Cundiff also reviewed the prospective city council agenda items for the next 30 days.
In final business, City Council went into an executive session to consider the employment of a public employee, which was added to the agenda at the top of the meeting. No action was taken by council when members emerged and returned into the session.
