Public works details snow operations, Everbridge alerts and usage statistics

Operations Superintendent Trey Bryant briefed the Sheridan City Council on snow-removal operations, contractor use, material changes and the city's Everbridge notification system during the Jan. 7 meeting at City Hall.

Trey Bryant said contractor trucks collectively drove 9,487 miles, performed 4,357 loads and hauled "around 56,000 tons of snow" in the last winter season (contractor figures as presented). For city plow operations (clearing roads prior to hauling), Bryant reported about 19,000 miles and 1,800 hours of operator time and said the crew used 130.4 tons of material. He contrasted that with a low-snow season when the city used about 70 tons of a different product, noting the current season's change reduced material usage from roughly 3.5 tons per inch to about 1.94 tons per inch of snowfall after switching to the product Bryant called the "iSlicer." "We switched back to the iSlicer to give it a shot, and it showed a big improvement," he said.

Bryant outlined technology and process changes meant to increase efficiency: route-tracking on plow trucks to monitor coverage and training; a road-weather information system on North Main that reports predicted and actual road temperatures and estimates road-specific snow accumulations; and coordination of contractor rotation to spread work among vendors. He said lane-mile coverage has increased: in a recent February the city tracked 180 total lane miles with 25% plowed and 10% picked up; in the most recent season the city tracked 283 lane miles with about 60% plowed and 25% picked up, a near doubling of plow coverage in that measurement.

Bryant also described Everbridge, the city's mass-notification system used for the odd/even parking alerts needed for curb-to-curb snow pickup. He said Everbridge supports geofencing and targeted callouts, and residents may sign up directly in a member portal to select notification methods (email, text, phone). The city also uses utility-billing contact data to help reach residents and can access a national database only for imminent threat situations.

Public comment and council discussion followed. Resident Maggie Busniewski asked whether Everbridge is tied to the utility billing system; Bryant responded that the city provides the service and uses the utility-billing database to seed contact information but encourages residents to sign up to choose their preferred notification method. Council members complimented the crews and the contractor-rotation process; one councilor thanked staff for improvements and said the city received more "kudos" last winter than complaints.

Why it matters: the presentation described operational changes that affect service levels, resident notification, contractor payments and equipment wear — all factors that influence municipal costs and resident mobility during winter storms.

Additional technical notes from the presentation: the city applies a salt-brine pretreatment at about 40 gallons per lane mile where appropriate; brine can only hold up to 23.3% salt by volume (as presented); pretreatment and timing are weather-dependent. Bryant said the city attempts to coordinate Everbridge geofenced notifications to avoid conflict with solid-waste pickup days and to limit unnecessary citywide alerts.

Questions pending or not specified in presentation: exact hour totals for contractors were read in the presentation but the transcript contains a numeric transcription ambiguity for contractor hours (presented as "2001 38 hours"). The city presentation files will be posted on the city website.