CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Approve the award of Cooperative Procurement 23-288, Roadway Salt, to Cargill and Morton Salt Inc. for an amount not to exceed $763,560
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DEPARTMENT: Department of Public Works
SUBMITTED BY: Richard Dublinski, Director
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
The Department of Public Works (DPW) requires roadway salt for winter operations.
Over the years, DPW staff has taken measures to limit the use of salt due to its high cost and environmental impacts. Specifically, DPW has changed procedures for salting cul-de-sacs, lowered application rates when conditions warrant, and have postponed the application of salt on residential streets, including cul-de-sacs, until after plowing is complete in some circumstances.
Also, in 2019 DPW retrofitted the salt spreader control systems on all plow trucks. This new program allows supervisors the ability to control salt spread remotely to ensure operational consistency and adherence to best practices for environmentally-sound snow and ice removal.
These operational changes have resulted in an average salt reduction of more than 7,000 tons per year as compared to ten years ago. Over the past ten years, the City has used an average of 12,500 tons of salt per year. During the mild 2022/23 winter season, the City used approximately 6,250 tons of salt.
The City has two salt dome locations, one at the Public Works Service Center and one near Plainfield/Naperville Road. It has been the City's policy to have both salt domes substantially full at the beginning of the winter season so that, at a minimum, it is prepared for an average-to-moderately heavy winter season. This initial salt supply not only provides the City enough salt for application during a typical winter season (based on a five-year average) but also eliminates the need to rely on delivery during the winter, which can often be delayed and more expensive.
The capacity of the City's salt domes is 18,0...
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