Cul-De-Sac Snow Removal Help May Be on the Way

Residents who live along many of the village’s 227 cul-de-sacs may be in for some welcome relief when it comes to snow removal this winter.

Director Jerry Weaver will soon be accepting bids from private companies the village may hire to help clear the cul-de-sacs, which are typically some of the last streets to be plowed. Weaver brought the proposal to the Village Board at its meeting Tuesday night.

The contract workers would plow cul-de-sacs on the west side of the Fox River and south of Wolf Road. The affected subdivisions would be Fox Chase, River Run, Park Place, Gates Creek, Gates Creek West, Blackberry Knolls, Southbury, Lakeview, Lakeview West, Deerpath, Morgan Crossing, Arbor Gate, Ashcroft, Old Reserve and parts of the older section of town. Vilage crews would handle the rest of the cul-de-sacs.

“With utilizing a contractor this will achieve a couple of things,” Weaver wrote in a memo to the board. “Public Works staff is focused on opening up and clearing roadways first with cul-de-sacs last. With utilizing a contracting company to be clearing cul-de-sacs, this contracted company will be out at the same time Public Works staff are out clearing the main roads.”

A contractor would be paid per event and not an hourly rate. Weaver said other local towns, including Naperville, utilize private snow removal businesses and typically budget about $50,000 annually for the service.

Weaver justified the extra cost, saying this will add to Public Works efficiency and should cut down on staff overtime during large snow storms. Interim village administrator Dwight Baird said Public Works is also down a couple of employees and bringing on a private company may help the village in not filling one of those positions in the future.

While trustees agreed to allow the bidding process to move ahead, Trustee Gail Johnson cautioned against outsourcing work typically done by the village.

“I’m worried about control,” she said. “… I am not a supporter of outsourcing a tremendous amount of services. I know some other trustees would like to see us outsource more, but I would go very cautiously.”

Trustee Jeff Lawson asked if the village had investigated the possibility of using a “snowbird” program, in which private workers would be paid hourly to operate village snow plows.

Weaver said the biggest issue with that type of arrangement is the reliability of the workers to show up when called.

Village President Brian LeClercq said the benefit of Weaver’s plan is that private workers would be using their own equipment, and more plows would be at work at any given time.

Bids for private snow removal services will be open through Nov. 21. The board could vote on a contract at its first meeting in December.