As we sit here awaiting the next visit from the Alberta Clipper, the Polar Votex, or whatever new name Mother Nature’s public relations department can dream up for nasty winter weather, we are sharing with you a message from Park Ridge Mayor Dave Schmidt about the current state of the City’s ability to deal with more snow and cold:
Hi everyone-
I have been conferring regularly over the past few weeks with our City Manager and the Public Works Director regarding winter storm response and particularly the issue of salting the streets. I have already written to you about some of the reasoning behind when salt is used and when it is held back.
I learned this morning from our PW Director that we are running low on salt, although we should have enough left to handle 6-8 more snow storms if our supply is used wisely. We have already had 52 inches of snow, well above the 39 inch average.
By way of background, the City had a stockpile of salt left over from last year, approximately 2000 tons. The last two winters saw us use 1800 tons and 3100 tons, respectively. Based on staff’s recommendation, we budgeted for an additional 2400 tons, for a total of 4400 tons. We are down to about 1000 tons, and it is still only January. Staff has been searching for additional supplies, but it appears there is little or none to be had, because the severe winter weather across the country is causing the demand to spike to historic proportions.
I just finished a quick internet search, and I can tell you that the salt shortage issue is not just area-wide, it is nationwide. I read stories from Montana, Ohio and Vermont where the situation is far worse than ours. For instance, we have the same amount of salt left as does Dayton, Ohio, a city of 140,000 people. One more storm and they are out, and since supplies are tight everywhere, they may be out of luck.
The bottom line is that the City will be altering its salting procedures unless and until we are able to locate more salt for purchase. For now, the Public Works Department will not be salting side streets. Arterial and collector streets will be salted twice, once at the beginning and again once the storm has passed.
I assure you this is not a budgetary issue. We have more money for salt, but staff cannot find anywhere to buy it, even at inflated prices. It is purely a result of low supply and excessively high demand. In many ways, we are fortunate because we started the year with a hefty stockpile and our staff has tried to use our supplies wisely, recognizing that there are still many weeks left in the winter season and that obtaining more salt may be difficult if not impossible.
I ask the residents to be patient and understanding. Above all, I ask them to be careful driving. Take your time. Saving a couple minutes is not worth risking your life or those of your loved ones and neighbors.
And remember, think positive. Pitchers and catchers report in about three weeks.
-Dave
Note Schmidt’s assurance that the salt shortage “is not a budgetary issue.” It also doesn’t mean that streets won’t be plowed, just that salting will likely be limited to main streets.
If the salt runs out, the City will use sand. The problem with sand, however, is that it ultimately gets washed into the sewers, where it accumulates and reduces sewer capacity.
Now you know the deal, so act accordingly.
To read or post comments, click on title.
12 comments so far
Can you clarify what day he is referring to by “this morning”? Does he mean Saturday morning?
There is a question that comes to mind. This issue (plowing and some peoples concerns about lack of plowing)was going to be a topic at Monday’s COW. The Mayor stated as much on this blog. It is odd to me that the fact that “We are down to about 1000 tons, and it is still only January”, never even came up until the Mayor had a conversation with the PW director well after the Monday (today) meeting when this was to be aired out.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The message was sent out Thursday (01.23.14) morning.
You seem not to understand that our City’s form of government is known as the “City Manager Form”; i.e., the well-paid, full-time City Manager is effectively the CEO who is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the City – which would include, we presume, interacting with the Public Works Director concerning snow plowing and salting capabilities. That form of government is also known as the “Strong Council, Weak Mayor” form because the mayor doesn’t not even get a vote unless a tie-breaker is needed.
Gee, Dog, I’m shocked that nobody’s found a reason to criticize Schmidt for something he wrote. Shouldn’t he have ordered more salt, or traveled around the country finding some?
EDITOR’S NOTE: That seems to have been implied in the previous comment.
excuses excuses.
1 thing that scares me in these situations is when the PD or FD’s have to get through.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Fair enough. If you don’t like “excuses, excuses, who should be suspended or fired because of the salt issue?
If you’re going to be scared of something, that’s probably not it – because in 20+ years we do not recall even one incident where a PD or FD emergency was not timely responded to because of snow/ice impeding a PD or FD vehicle. But feel free to identify one if you can.
I disagree intensely with Mayor Schmidt and with this blog on some key issues, but I think we should give Dave a lot of credit for his continuous, coherent communiques on what’s going on. I have lived here through a number of administrations — some led by respectable people and some not — but I do not recall ever getting the cogent, complete, frequent updates we get from Dave. I only wish the City website were in shape such that his messages to his e-list could be available to everybody in town. It should not be left to PubDog to do all the town crier-ing for the Mayor — and then get blamed for partisanship!
EDITOR’S NOTE: If you receive the mayor’s communiques, you know that we publish only the tiniest fraction of them, and only when they have some particular relevance to a current or relatively recent post – as in this case of plowing and salting.
Frankly, we don’t wish to do “town crier-ing for the Mayor,” so we’d welcome the City putting those things on the website in timely fashion.
PD:
I know you roll out of bed defending the Mayor but you have got to be kidding me!!
I stated the following…” It is odd to me that the fact that “We are down to about 1000 tons, and it is still only January”, never even came up until the Mayor had a conversation with the PW director well after the Monday (today) meeting when this was to be aired out”.
How on earth is this an attack on the Mayor?? Would you not have liked either the PD director or the CM to have mentioned the salt situation at the COW meeting earlier in the week?? Was that not a better venue to have this information disseminated compared to a one on one one with the Mayor and then have it posted on your blog?? Is it not stupid that it took a face to face with the Mayor for this information to be shared?? It is like it had to be dragged out of him. Does that mean that if the Mayor had not had a conversation with him he would still not have shared it with anyone as of today? Hell, I would like to think that there are pieces of information that the CM would think are important enough to e-mail the council and the Mayor giving them a heads up incase constituents ask questions.
You are so freakin’ sensitive about the Mayor you see attacks when they are not even there.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Anon:
If we were “so freakin’ sensitive” about anonymous comments critical of the mayor, we simply could choose not to publish them. But we’re not, which is why we published all of your “anonymous” comments to our 01.17.14 flooding post that you submitted on 01.17.14 @ 4:39 p.m. and 5:31 p.m.; 01.18.14 @ 12:34 p.m.; and 01.20.14 @ 2:32 p.m. and 7:42 p.m. So don’t play coy about your 01.25.14 comment to this post, which clearly was intended to be critical of the mayor.
And, contrary to your erroneous suggestion that this salt shortage information was the product of some kind of “one on one with the mayor and then…posted on [this] blog,” the mayor already had circulated the information to hundreds of residents and the press a full day before it was posted here.
Finally, while you might “like to think that there are pieces of information that the CM would think are important enough to e-mail the council and the Mayor giving them a heads up incase constituents ask questions,” the CM’s record to day displays a notable lack of proactivity in that regard.
Funny, people trying to do a Bilandic V2….
EDITOR’S NOTE: Yep, but unlike with Bilandic – who was never elected to even one 4-year term – Schmidt has been elected twice to full 4-year terms, the second time with significantly more votes and a bigger percentage than the first.
Bilandic?? Not me!! You obviously have been following my posts and if that is the case you have seen that I have clearly stated that all the whining about snow plowing last week is a joke.
Libertyville, Woodridge and Elmhurst are mixing salt with sand to stretch supplies. Glen Ellyn, Lake Forest are trying to conserve by limiting its salting to main roads. Put the pitchforks down, no need for a witch hunt. Not to mention getting salt not treated with magnesium, calcium or potassium (15 to -25) would not work anyway.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-cold-weather-salt-20140128,0,4519737.story?page=1
If the .10 percenters in Lake Forest (decimal point intentional) are having to navigate their Beemers through actual snow, we can do it, too!
EDITOR’S NOTE: Puh-leeze! They leave the Beemers, Benzes and Bentleys garaged and roll out their Land Rovers.
I am not sure I would expect the Public Works Director to give us a running tally on salt during a winter season, although I do think a little more advance information would have been appropriate when they were thinking of modifying their procedures.
Here is the very latest: we have 900 tons left which will handle 9-10 storms of an inch or more under the procedures now in place. Salt is slowly becoming available on the market, but at black market prices. Wayne is taking a wait-and-see approach right now, but I assure you we will be staying on top of it. Ultimately, however, it is staff’s call as to how to handle this. This is what we pay them for. Our job is oversight, and that is what we are doing.
Mr. Mayor:
Who asked for a running tally throughout the winter season?? Certainly not me. You call for “a little more advanced information”. I thought that, considering all the whining about plowing last week, this information should have been shared at the COW.
Essentially we agree.
It’s hard, sometimes, to tell the difference between oversight and overlook….staff gets paid either way, and inertia favors the…inert.
EDITOR’S NOTE: And it’s hard, sometimes, to make heads or tails out of cryptic attempts at profundity.
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