The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Add salt? There’s plenty to go around
Due to the mild winter, so far, Lorain County is sitting on thousands of tons of road salt.
According to the National Weather Service, the winter to this point has been devoid of heavy snowfall, with only 4.4 inches having fallen in November and only 2.8 inches having fallen by Dec. 25.
Due to the state’s policies on buying salt, though, the lack of snowfall has not deterred many communities’ procurement of road salt, whether they need it or not.
The communities in the county, as well as the Lorain County Engineer’s Office, Lorain County Community College and the Ohio Turnpike all have signed on to a cooperative purchase agreement.
According to the Ohio Department of Transportation website, entities across Lorain County expected to need a total of about 61,795 tons of salt for this winter.
The purchase agreements were due to ODOT by May 18 and are in effect until April 30, 2019. The agreement stipulates the entities must purchase between 90 percent and 110 percent of their
expected need.
Lori Garcia, public properties manager for Lorain, said that her city expected to need about 5,000 tons which will be split between the East 35th Street and Oak Point Road facilities.
She said the city had currently received about 2,100 tons of salt.
“We’re doing good (with salt),” she said.
She said the mild temperatures and lack of heavy precipitation has led to the use of only a few tons if any so far and that would have been used on the bridges or a water distribution break.
As part of this year’s purchasing agreement, the price has more than doubled according to Garcia.
“I want to say last year we were paying $32 a ton,” she said. “It’s $77 a ton this year.”
This year’s salt is being purchased from Compass Minerals, of Oberlin Park, Kan., with a facility in Sandusky, according to Garcia.
“When (ODOT) went out to bid this year, nobody even bid on Lorain County,” she said.
According to Garcia, due to our county’s high demand for salt, it was difficult to find a supplier because Cargill, the normal provider, knew it couldn’t satiate the demand. Morten, the other major provider, bid on every other county except Lorain.
“The state actually went out for a second bid,” she said.
Garcia said the new company is very receptive.
“When we ordered it, they were there within two days with the salt,” she said.
If nothing changes and the winter continues to be mild, this can raise issues for the city, as Garcia said they do not have room to house their required amount of salt.
“I’ll have to figure out
Lori Garcia, public properties manager for Lorain, said that her city expected to need about 5,000 tons which will be split between the East 35th Street and Oak Point Road facilities.
where I’m going to stockpile it,” she said with a laugh.
“I feel that we’ll be fine this winter unless something really blows in in January and February,” Garcia said.
Patrick Hastings, the city superintendent for Sheffield Lake, said his city is still sitting on about 600 tons of salt from last year and they’ve only minimally applied the salt once so far this year.
“I haven’t even ordered yet,” he said. “We’re at our maximum capacity. We’re not in a position to store much more than that anyway, so typically when we get down to a couple hundred is when I start ordering.”
Hastings said that since the money used to buy salt is just rolled over from year to year, a mild winter won’t really save the city much money.
As far as how the city decides salt is needed, Hastings said it’s not just snow.
“Sometimes it’s the icy conditions, sometimes the freezing rain affects the pavement,” he said.
The city also responds to trouble spots identified by the police.
“Of course, we watch the weather forecasts, but between the safety forces and us we watch the road conditions,” he said.