MANSFIELD — A decision two years ago to pay the Ohio Department of Transportation to snowplow U.S. 30 in the City of Mansfield limits is paying dividends on other city streets.
That was the message Tuesday morning from city street operations Supervisor Steve Brown during a Board of Control meeting.
“It’s saved a lot of time (this winter). Even this past weekend with the storm we had, a lot of times in the past we would never get a truck off of U.S. 30,” Brown said. “So I can utilize that truck now all over anywhere else and it really does free up a lot of us.”
In July 2022, after residents and members of City Council demanded better response to snow events on city streets, former Mayor Tim Theaker’s administration struck a deal to pay ODOT about $107,000 annually to clear 35.63 lane miles of U.S. 30 and other smaller sections of state routes within the city limits.
“We do so many road miles (more than 600). For what we have, in my opinion, it’s really worth the money,” Brown said.
The Board of Control approved a $110,000 purchase order Tuesday to pay for the work.
“It probably won’t be that much,” Brown said. “Last year was about $88,000.”
ODOT bills the city for the plowing based upon the actual work performed, including man-hours, salt usage, etc.
“It’s definitely made a difference. It was noticeable last year,” said new Mayor Jodie Perry, the former longtime CEO of the Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development.
The original contract was for two years. Perry and Brown said a new contract would likely be negotiated.
Brown said one change in his department’s efforts this winter was a decision to salt “end to end” in residential areas, rather than “spot salting” as it had done in the past.
“We’re probably going to check it out and we’re going to try to keep salting end to end, as long as it is feasible and we still have the salt on hand and the money and everything’s still there,” he said.
“We’re going to basically go though all the zones and try to salt the entire zones,” Brown said.
Perry said she had heard “lots of good comment” on the city’s road clearing efforts since taking office earlier this month.
Perry also pointed to the previous administration’s decision to use American Rescue Plan Act funds to purchase new snowplowing trucks and related equipment.
“There has been some investment in new equipment for snow removal and I think that’s important to note,” Perry said.
The new mayor said it’s not been a bad winter yet in terms of snow and ice.
“I just jinxed us right now,” she said with a laugh.
Brown replied, “Yeah, it’s still January.”