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Elgin leaders hoping for repeat of last year's snow removal success

When it snowed in Elgin two years ago you could bet the city would get an earful of complaints over the telephone or in person at city council meetings.

But complaints tapered off last year as the city bought more salt in advance, upgraded trucks and plows and retooled routes that city plows travel.

As December arrives, city leaders are hoping for a repeat of last year, and have added two salt storage facilities to make operations more efficient.

Mayor Ed Schock is confident that with some luck the city can repeat its snow removal efforts despite the city's recent budget cuts.

"The variable is what kind of winter we have," he said. "If we have another winter like last winter, I am pretty confident we can equal our performance, which was generally regarded as pretty good."

David Lawry, the city's general services director, is scheduled to give city leaders a presentation Wednesday about snow removal. He did not return phone calls Monday.

One large change last year was creating three primary routes for heavily traveled roads and 19 for subdivisions. In past years, the city did not have plowing routes focusing exclusively on large roads.

Sue Olafson, the city's public information officer, said the city has 25 drivers and plowing 22 routes covering 325 "center lane" miles, which includes stretches of road that take two or more plows to clear in a pass.

"That's the equivalent of driving to Peoria and back, to put it in perspective," she said.

Schock also noted the city will utilize two new salt storage facilities - one on the west side at Bowes Road and Longcommon Parkway, the other on the northeast side near Route 25 and Interstate 90.

"The ability to get salt on the streets - we really enhanced our ability to do that," he said, adding that plow drivers spend some 20 percent of the time behind the wheel en route to refill on salt.

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