Welcome to Tri-Cities Central, a twice-weekly newsletter highlighting local happenings in Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles and surrounding communities.
Get yours: subscribe here. Refer a friend: share this link.
Two local towns are dealing with the same salt problem this summer.
Because a large salt supplier that usually bid on Illinois road salt contracts decided not to participate this year, hundreds of communities have been forced to find their own way to keep roads safe this winter.
North Aurora had to scramble for a new supplier. St. Charles did too — and is also facing a significant price jump.
Here's what to know:
The state's usual process was disrupted: Many local governments normally get their road salt through a joint bidding program run by the Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS), which bundles requests from towns across the state and puts them out to bid together. This year, one of the three major salt suppliers didn't bid at all, leaving more than 250 Illinois communities (including St. Charles and North Aurora) without a vendor.
North Aurora’s scramble: After the town failed to get a bid, the Village Board voted on Aug. 17 to skip its own bidding process and go straight to Midwest Salt for 2,500 tons at $289,825. Staff said they contacted six companies and got five proposals back before landing on Midwest as the lowest bid.
The St. Charles situation: The city's Committee of the Whole recommended a similar move on Aug. 17, with plans to purchase 3,500 tons from Midwest Salt at $386,255, which is $131,255 more than the city had budgeted for salt this year. That works out to $110.36 per ton, a 53% jump over what St. Charles paid last year. The recommendation still needs a final vote from the full City Council.
Reporting from the Chicago Tribune shows the same story playing out across other Illinois municipalities. Mount Prospect and Naperville lost their state bids and are now paying significantly more per ton through emergency contracts as well.
Watch the North Aurora Village Board meeting recording and the St. Charles Committee of the Whole meeting recording.
📖 Thanks for reading
Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] with questions or comments.
Not signed up yet? Subscribe here.