Hamilton County Councilors Steve Schwartz, Sue Maki and Ken Alexander visited the Hamilton County Highway Department on Tuesday as part of their monthly Highway Department Committee meeting. The purpose of their visit was to ensure the department has everything they need as winter approaches and we are moving closer to snow season.
“When we get to this time of year, we always make sure the highway department has everything they need,” Schwartz told The Reporter. “They provide us with a checklist. Of course, they are the experts, not us. We are the funding body, but we always like to ensure they have everything they need going into snowplow season.”
According to Schwartz, if there is a snow emergency the Highway Department will typically contact the commissioners if they need assistance. “Of course, if they need additional funding the commissioners would get ahold of the council and we would provide special funding if there are special needs,” Schwartz said. Schwartz also noted that due to the level of preparation done each year, he has never needed to approve special funding during his tenure.
The Hamilton County Highway Department maintains 14 large snow trucks, two large brine application trucks, along with nine pickup trucks to cover approximately 1,200 lane miles of roads in the county.
The department has a more than adequate amount of pre-treated salt on hand going into the winter. Salt is pretreated with magnesium chloride to increase its effectiveness. Hamilton County has 6,500 tons of pretreated salt under contract for refilling the highway department’s inventory as salt is used.
According to Cargill, who supplies salt for Hamilton County, there should be no supply chain issues for winter delivery.