The Great Bend City Council Monday night took steps to combat problems at opposite ends of the seasonal spectrum. Approved were the purchase of a new brine machine to fight snow and two foggers to fight mosquitoes.
The brine maker and spreader unit was bought from Varitech Industries of Alexandria, Minn., for $40,656.03.
“We needed to update our snow-fighting ability,” said Street Superintendent James Giles. The Street Department’s long-term goal has been to acquire the ability to pre-treat city streets with salt brine in advance of winter storm events. This saves manpower and equipment wear and tear as salt brine will melt up to 2 inches of snow fall.
Therefore, crews will not need to respond with plows until three or more inches of actual snowfall has occurred, Giles said. The recent purchase of the used dump truck provided substantial savings, which in turn makes funds available to purchase the brining equipment.
“We’re going to save time and money,” he said. It is an investment now, but with salt costing only $46.53 per ton, it will quickly start reaping dividends.
Giles said it won’t matter how much snow is in the forecast. “If they say it’s going to snow, we go ahead and brine.”
They do have to be aware of run-off and how much of the salt water finds its way into the Arkansas River.
The stainless steel unit can produce 5,000 gallons of bring per hour, which is way more than the city would need, he said, noting 2,000 gallons would cover U.S. 281 to Pratt and back. It would take about 1,400 gallons to treat all of Great Bend and that would take one person about a day to do.
Staff requested bids for the brine equipment and Varitech Industries is the industry leader for this equipment and provided the lowest bid. This includes the maker, the 1,300-gallon tank, loader adapter which is necessary to allow staff to load and unload the unit from the truck, and the in-cab control unit, Giles said.
It cam be easily installed and removed, and stored at the end of the snow season, he said.
There may be an additional cost to install plumbing needed to supply water for the brine maker.
Mosquito foggers
As for those pesky mosquitoes, the council approved the purchase of two mosquito foggers from Clarke, Roselle, Ill., for $25,691.60.
Public Works performs an annual fogging program to help control the mosquito population. Currently, the city has two old units, Giles said. One is a 2002 model that was purchased used from the City of Ellinwood and the other is two older units (1978 and 1992 models) that have been combined to make one workable unit.
Giles said both are obsolete, very unreliable and need replaced. Staff received price quotes for the desired units equipped with Smart Flow technology that provides auto-calibration for more accurate chemical disbursement as well as records all spray statistics which we are required by law to report and maintain. Clarke provided the lowest and best bid for two units.
The new foggers are more efficient, Giles said. The user can better control the dispersion of the chemicals for more consistent coverage, important when these insecticides cost as much as $4,000 per barrel (the city has gone through three of these in one season).
And, he said, they can be used for three different chemicals to attack mosquitoes in different stages of development. “We can change mode of action” to get a more thorough kill.
Money for the purchase of both the brine unit and foggers came from the sale of a used city dump truck.
