The Observation Deck

12650 DETROIT AVENUE ● 44107 ● 216/521-7580 ● FAX 216/521-1379 ● www.onelakewood.com



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Supplier Freezes Lakewood’s Salt Reserve
Lakewood’s salt supply is running precariously low, and the city’s streets have suffered as
a result. Morton, the contracted company that provides the city’s salt, has failed to deliver the 1,000 tons back-ordered by the city.

Lakewood has now placed orders with other vendors, but not being under contract means that city isn’t high on companies’ priority list. One of most the pedestrian-friendly cities in the state, Lakewood is dependent on the salt to keep the roadways clear and safe.
While the city waits for delivery, plow trucks have been on the streets around the clock to clear the accumulation of snow and ice. However, the removal of the final veneer of snow requires salt.

Mayor Michael Summers said that keeping the streets safe is a priority, hindered by the short supply. “We are doing everything we can do ensure the safety of our residents,” he said. “And getting a salt to clear our streets is a big part of that. Unfortunately, we have had promises repeatedly broken by Morton.”

The issue has also been compounded by the frequency of snowfall (and the frequency of the need for salt) and the extreme cold, which requires more salt than usual. Lakewood’s typical storage capacity is 1,500 tons, but the supply has dwindled to about 250 tons. “We’re not getting deliveries,” said Summers.

The city is focusing its remaining salt on hills and intersections until more arrives. Officials from Morton salt have promised that more salt is coming this week. Meanwhile, the city is looking into its contractual remedies against Morton and is also trying to purchase salt from other government agencies.

Other cities, such as Canton, have found themselves in similar situations with Morton, which won a statewide public bid for salt supply. The Ohio Department of Transportation is also still waiting on 1,500 tons from Morton. “And until our suppliers come through for us, we’ve got to be careful about how we drive,” added Summers. 

NEED MORE INFORMATION ABOUT LAKEWOOD? CALL COMMUNITY RELATIONS AT (216) 529-6650.








TIME \@ "MMMM d, yyyy" January 27, 2014

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NEWS FROM THE
OFFICE OF
COMMUNITY RELATIONS

This morning I had the pleasure of having breakfast with Dennis Patton, the City Council
President of Brook Park, Ohio.

Out of nowhere in the discussion came, "My heart went out to Mike (Summers) when he was
standing in the middle of a mostly empty salt dome on TV." I asked why, and he responded,
"Morton and the trucking company have been slowly rationing out salt, and short shipping
all of us."

File under, FWIW.


.

FWIW

Although knowing little about the process of winter road salt purchasing and final
application by the end user, it was readily apparent to me that our city was no
different than hundreds of others cities who purchased under state DOT brokered
deals in Ohio and other states.

Who can accurately call a Midwest winter ? Similarly situated, and under the same
or similar circumstances, quite a few choices were made to go with low bid Morton.
This was not a local failure as the big picture unfolds. Morton just could not deliver.

This has been regionally reported for a month.

Beachwood did a great job with 3 salt domes, 4 times the salt storage capacity claimed
by Mayoral quote, and the statement that "cheaper is not necessarily better." I'm going
to guess that they may have purchased from Cargill or another source far above the
low bid state deal. What if we did that ?

I'm going to guess that they may have purchased from Cargill or another source far above the low bid state deal. What if we did that ?[/quote]

Then the same people who are complaining on here about the poor response to the snow would be complaining about the city wasting tax dollars by not going with the lowest bid

russell dunn wrote:FWIW

Although knowing little about the process of winter road salt purchasing and final
application by the end user, it was readily apparent to me that our city was no
different than hundreds of others cities who purchased under state DOT brokered
deals in Ohio and other states.

Who can accurately call a Midwest winter ? Similarly situated, and under the same
or similar circumstances, quite a few choices were made to go with low bid Morton.
This was not a local failure as the big picture unfolds. Morton just could not deliver.

This has been regionally reported for a month.

Beachwood did a great job with 3 salt domes, 4 times the salt storage capacity claimed
by Mayoral quote, and the statement that "cheaper is not necessarily better." I'm going
to guess that they may have purchased from Cargill or another source far above the
low bid state deal. What if we did that ?

Bill Burnett wrote:Then the same people who are complaining on here about the poor response to the snow would be complaining about the city wasting tax dollars by not going with the lowest bid

Bill,

I realize that folks want to marginalize anyone who is critical of Mayor Mike Summers as he leads our great city off the mayoral cliff toward the city manager tides.

However, let’s assume that Mike has been truthful throughout Salt Gate.

Any first year law student knows that Mike should have done what Russell suggests and simply order salt from another vendor (i.e., mitigated our damages) and then initiated a lawsuit against the original supplier who "allegedly" breached the initial contract to recover the difference (i.e., our damages). A harshly worded letter may have even worked.

But Mike was in Washington D.C. hanging out with the POTUS during Salt Gate.

And simply coming home and tweeting mayoral tears doesn't amount to mitigation.

Matt

"Then the same people who are complaining on here about the poor response to the snow would be complaining about the city wasting tax dollars by not going with the lowest bid"

No, I would not. Lowest bid does not mean best value. Obviously. Also, the lack of plowing was independent of salt supply.

"Who can accurately call a Midwest winter ?"

You don't need to. Plan for the worst, hope for the best.

"it was readily apparent to me that our city was no
different than hundreds of others cities"

I hate it when I hear things like that. I don't want Lakewood to be like hundreds of other mediocre or lousy cities - or even good ones. I want Lakewood to be itself and to be great. Again, it used to be "you can tell when you get to Lakewood as the streets are nice and clean and safe". (Not, "oh, the roads here are just as bad as everyone else's"... or actually what it's come to is "you can tell when you get to Lakewood as the streets are so bad".)

Jeff Dreger wrote:"Then the same people who are complaining on here about the poor response to the snow would be complaining about the city wasting tax dollars by not going with the lowest bid"

No, I would not. Lowest bid does not mean best value. Obviously. Also, the lack of plowing was independent of salt supply.

That's it, Jeff.

The inconvenient truth about Salt Gate is that Mike Summers tweeted and admitted that he couldn't have used the salt anyway.

I suspect that's why Mike never took any serious action against the salt supplier.

Matt

Matthew John Markling wrote:The inconvenient truth about Salt Gate...

I feel about the missuse of "Gate" the same way I do with the missuse of "Nazi."

Just so we do not forget, from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal that occurred in the United States in the 1970s a result of the June 17, 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement. The term Watergate has come to encompass an array of clandestine and often illegal activities undertaken by members of the Nixon administration. Those activities included "dirty tricks" such as bugging the offices of political opponents and people of whom Nixon or his officials were suspicious. Nixon and his close aides ordered harassment of activist groups and political figures, using the FBI, CIA, and the Internal Revenue Service. The scandal led to the discovery of multiple abuses of power by the Nixon administration, articles of impeachment [1] and the resignation of Republican Richard Nixon, the President of the United States, on August 9, 1974—the only resignation of a U.S. president to date. The scandal also resulted in the indictment, trial, conviction, and incarceration of 43 people, dozens of whom were Nixon's top administration officials.

It was a complete and orchestrated war against democracy and rights by a President,

While some of this may have happened, not over salt.

.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:

Matthew John Markling wrote:The inconvenient truth about Salt Gate...

I feel about the missuse of "Gate" the same way I do with the missuse of "Nazi."

So, we have a colder than usual winter with more snow events. I'm hearing that we have less experienced snow plow operators. All this combined with a salt supplier that couldn't live up to it's contract commitments. Sounds like the perfect storm.

Hopefully the plow guys pick up some techniques to plow without avalanching sidewalks (Sunoco on Hilliard and Madison) and crosswalks (Riverside and Crest Lane). Maybe they could also get a little closer to the curb. I know our street has lost at least a combined 3 feet in width.

The Perfect Storm. Thanks, Charlie.

And thanks to all who have weighed in on awareness that seasonal weather patterns
are indeed changing and that extremes of heat and cold might cause us some problems
that we are not preparing for. Wanna bet it won't swing either way ?
Summer heat or winter cold could really cramp your reality.

Five days of food and necessary items for each household member stored at home
will be a great start to getting on the upside of some of those unpredictable days
when normal shopping is unavailable. This is something you can control. Much like
cash, food is always in style. Just don't pay 19 bucks for a can of tuna.

Do your little bit to be prepared to hunker down at home when the weather dictates.
It worked in the middle ages.

I'm well aware that my positive postings and attitudes really seem to grate on a few people sometimes, who wish that I could be more "realistic" or whatever.

So let's get real.

As any school teacher would be happy to tell you, the "normal" for Cleveland's winter has traditionally been cold and plenty of full snow cover from late December through the end of February.

Since we've had some milder winters lately, many people seem to have forgotten that "normal".

Truth be told, it's been an absolutely beautiful winter, if one chooses to look at it for what it is. The snow last night, for example, had that crystalline diamond-like structure that is distinctive to low temperature precipitation.

There are many different kinds of snow, check it out.

While a number of hand-wringing people around here appear to have been worrying as to whether some 30,000 years from now, others would find their perfectly preserved bodies in the permafrost, like those Wooly Mammoths, those in the know just smile, and prepare for the days that the maple sap and the salmon will start running again.

(No, salmon don't have legs, but "running" is a proper word for what those fish do when they go up or downstream)

As for Dad and me? We LOVE this weather. Indeed, we love all seasons. We're just glad to be able to be up and around today.

Matter of fact, we try to get out daily. Love that drive through the valley every season! The crunch of crystalline Arctic snow under our boots has the same appeal to us as crystalline white Gulf summer sand does when squished between our toes.

If all this sounds a bit too optimistic for some people, perhaps they could think about the old story about how easy it is to tear something, or somebody down.

Great buildings and even personal reputations that people spend years constructing can tumble overnight.

How easy it is to destroy. How long and yes, sometimes difficult it is... to build...
...but it's worth it.

Back to the banjo...

The salt supply is apparently wide-spread. Even the Winter Olympics had to make a large emergency purchase or risk cancelling some of the ski events.

The Canadians evaluate winters based on the percentage of the Great Lakes that is frozen over. It is about 88% now, with more winter on the way. The 88% is the highest since 1979.

Strongsville leadership was able to work out a significant discount on salt this year because of the delays. If our shipments were really this delayed why didn't our leadership fight for it as well?

Wonder if we still have time to negotiate something.

http://www.cleveland.com/strongsville/i ... cart_river