Bartlett's streets snow removal 2017-18

Bartlett's streets snow removal 2017-18

23 winter storm events cost $373,026

The Village of Bartlett paid for 4,366.5 hours of snow removal and 1,800 tons of salt from 2017 to 2018. The Village recorded 23 winter storm events from Dec. 9, 2017 to April 16, 2018. The 23 winter storm events recorded cost the Village $373,026. The Village recorded the salt used cost about $99,582, snow removal contractors cost $128,115 and Village employees' labor cost about $138,250.

The Village planned for 3,500 hours of snow removal, according to the Village's 2017-18 operating budget. The 3,500 planned hours of snow removal had not included hours intended for hired-contractors, according to information obtained using the Freedom of Information Act, called FOIA. The Village provided an estimation of 3,000 hours of snow removal from 2017 to 2018, according to the Village's 2018-19 operating budget.

Daniel Dinges, the Village of Bartlett's public works director said a higher estimation of hours planned for snow removal in the budget is preferred. A higher estimation prevents the Village's board of trustees from being asked for emergency funding. The budget provided for snow removal is intended to "cover a bad year."

"You'd like to lower it, but, we don't, because, if you have a bad year, you want to make sure you have a budget for it. Because there's not an option-I mean, you have to get the roads clear for the public. So, you want to make sure you have the budget there," said Dinges.

The Village recorded 33.3 inches of snow was produced from 23 winter storm events, according to the Village's 2017-18 winter summary. The two events with the highest snowfall had 8 inches and 4 inches. The snow event with 8 inches from Feb. 8 to 9, 2018 cost the Village about $56,841; contractors cost $34,245, Village employees' labor cost about $15,662 and salt used cost about $6,481.

The Village prioritizes snow removal by main streets, "secondary collector streets," cul-de-sacs and dead-end streets, according to the Village's website. Bartlett's street jurisdiction borders Streamwood at the north, Hanover Park at the east, West Chicago at the south and South Elgin and Wayne at the west. A street jurisdiction map on the Village's website shows the streets the Village provides snow removal for.

The Village estimated 2,000 tons of salt were purchased from 2017 to 2018, according to the Village's 2018-19 operating budget. The Village recorded 1,800 tons of salt were purchased from 2017 to 2018, according to the Village's 2017-18 operating budget. The Village paid $89,748 for the 1,800 tons of salt from 2017 to 2018, according to information obtained using the FOIA. About 1,997 tons of salt were used for the 23 winter storm events.

Salt is used as a preventative of ice on streets and is used to de-ice streets. The Village used brine on streets for 21 of the 23 winter storm events, according to the Village's 2017-18 winter summary. The Village used 5,898 gallons of brine that cost about $7,000 for the 23 winter storm events.

"You never want to run out of salt. So, you want to make sure that you have enough to be able to cover and get salt when you need it," said Dinges. "I think we put $150,000 in the budget for salt. We are actually starting to get prices for next year, and as you can imagine, with how busy it was across the country, salt prices have gone way up."

Dinges said salt prices increased to $82 per ton. The Village paid about $52 per ton for DuPage salt and about $48 per ton for state salt from 2017 to 2018. The salt and brine used on streets cost in total about $107,000 from 2017 to 2018, according to the Village's 2017-18 winter summary.

Local contractor companies interested in providing snow removal are considered, selected and approved by Dinges, street supervisor Keith Watson and senior maintenance workers for "streets." The contractor companies picked provided the proper equipment with the necessary insurance coverage, agreed to the route and the rate of pay. The Village estimated $520,429 was spent on contractual services from 2017 to 2018, according to the Village's 2018-19 operating budget. The cost of a contractor's license is $100 in Bartlett.

Village employees had 2,943 hours of snow removal from 2017 to 2018, according to information obtained using the FOIA. The average rate of pay to Village employees is $35.

"For snow operations, we basically, over past seasons, we just kind of take an average of here's what a typical snow event would look like and then that's how we put our budgets together; whether it's for our crews or for our contractors," said Dinges. "You'll have some high years; you'll have some low years. This year was high; last year was low; kind of all balances out; you just average it and base the budget on it."

The contractors who provided snow removal were paid $90 per hour, according to information obtained using the FOIA. The contractors were paid after a bill with the hours spent snowplowing was provided to the Village. The six contractor companies used for snow removal from 2017 to 2018 were paid in total $128,115 by the Village and in total had 1,423.5 hours recorded of snow removal, according to information obtained using the FOIA.

S&B Plowing and Snow Removal was paid $12,465 in 2018; V. Cardenas Landscaping and Snow Removal was paid $13,230; J&D Lawn Maintenance was paid $14,130; AJD Concrete Construction Corp. was paid $17,055 in 2018; 'Koncrete' Construction Inc. was paid $30,645 in 2018; Cornerstone Land and Lawn Inc. was paid $40,590 in 2018.

"We went out and surveyed other communities to get what they were doing and we're right in there with what other communities are paying," said Dinges. "So, it kind of keeps it simple, and we just monitor hours."

Contractor companies that demonstrated proper snow removal are encouraged to provide future snow removal service.

S&B Plowing and Snow removal had 138.5 hours; V. Cardenas Landscaping and Snow Removal had 147 hours; J&D Lawn Maintenance had 157 hours; AJD Concrete Construction Corp. had 189.5 hours; 'Koncrete' Construction Inc. had 340.5 hours; Cornerstone Land and Lawn Inc. had 451 hours.

S&B Plowing and Snow Removal and V. Cardenas Landscaping were not listed in Village's summary of payments made to vendor in 2017 or 2018.

"So, pretty much, the way it's been working is we've got a group of contractors that have been doing it for a long time," said Dinges. "Every fall we'll check in and say 'OK, how are things looking? Are you going to be able to do your routes this year?'"

The Village paid $61,560 for snowplow contracts from the start of the new fiscal year in 2016 until the fiscal year ended April 30, 2017, according to Bartlett's 2017 comprehensive annual financial report. The Village paid $129,375 for snowplow contracts from the start of the new fiscal year in 2017 until the fiscal year ended April 30, 2018. The Village's budget provided $175,000 for snowplow contracts during the fiscal years that ended April 30, in 2017 and 2018.

Snow removal contractors in Chicago are paid about $160 per hour, according to Brancato Snow & Ice Management's website. Some snow contractors are paid about $210 per hour. The hourly cost is often determined by equipment used, salt used, distance covered and the inches of snow. Snow removal contractors often charged per push, which means buyers paid per event. Per push cost is determined by travel time, inches of snow and time spent snowplowing.

"We'll get contractors that will send us their information and say 'hey, if you have an opening we'd be interested,''' said Dinges. "So then we have that if we needed to find someone we'd contact that group and say 'hey, here's the route. Would you be able to do it? And here's kind of the going-rate that we're paying.' So then they know right up front here's what they're going to get paid, and look at it and see if they've got the resources and manpower to be able to take care of it."

A winter summary of the months of Dec., Jan. and Feb. from 2017 to 2018 recorded 30.2 inches of snow in Chicago, according to the National Weather Service's website.

It is estimated 60 million tons of salt is used de-icing streets worldwide, according to the International Molybdenum Association. The United States used roughly 20 million tons of salt each year de-icing.