At the Sept. 9, 2025 City Council meeting, city staff reported it had awarded 19 of 21 contracted snow-plow routes and asked council for direction on filling the remaining routes. City staff said limited contractor capacity after recent shifts toward commercial accounts led to fewer bids and that some long-time contractors bid on fewer routes this year.

Why it matters: The city contracts most residential snow-removal routes to private contractors; gaps in awards can leave neighborhoods without routine contracted coverage and require special staff action during storms.

City staff described how the bid was advertised, how contractor capacity shaped awards and asked council whether to repeat a formal advertising process or use an informal bid approach. "As it stands now, we have were able to award 19 out of the 21 routes," staff said. The staff member added that some vendors bid only on routes close to them and that staffing shortages among contractors limited competition.

Councilmember John said he supported the same approach used last year. "I think that the way we did it last year and the way you're proposed to do it this year is fine by me," he said. Councilmember Dennis and other council members discussed timing and contractor notification; staff said notifying awarded contractors quickly would help prevent them from seeking other work.

Discussion-only items included whether to re-advertise formally and how to handle city parking-lot and recreation-area clearing, which staff said is handled separately by the recreation department. For the remaining routes staff asked for guidance; at the meeting staff said it would seek informal pricing and return with results. The transcript records a staff request: if the informal pricing is obtained within a week, a Tuesday meeting could be called to finalize awards.

The record about which specific routes remained unawarded is unclear in the audio transcript; staff stated two routes remained outstanding but the spoken route numbers were not consistently recorded. The packet, staff said, lists streets by route and will be used to identify outstanding coverage.

Ending: Staff will obtain informal quotes for the remaining routes, notify awarded contractors, and return to council with the pricing and a potential meeting date to finalize awards.