The City Council voted 5-0 Tuesday night to accept low bids from two companies to do snow removal in the central business district this winter.
But Councilman Reed Ridge questioned whether outside contractors would be more expensive than using city employees and whether they would be as accountable.
Deppmeier Trucking of Wonder Lake will provide trucks with 10- and 20-cubic-yard capacity to haul the snow away from the square at a rate of $46 an hour. The charge from downtown parking lots would be $58 an hour. Dahm Enterprises will provide the front-end loaders and other equipment to load those trucks at a rate of $128 per hour.
City Manager Tim Clifton said city crews handle the rest of the city’s streets, but the snow in the downtown area must actually be trucked away.
