Greetings!
In this newsletter you will find information that we hope will be useful to you. You can also find job opportunities on our website and with the Census Bureau.
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Road Salt Basics in Carol Stream |
As we endure the deep winter chill, we are sharing some salt use insight from our Streets Supervisor Jason Pauling. First and foremost, the Village prides itself on making sure all our residents and visitors can travel our community safely. Our Public Works Department does this with a careful balance of industry best practices, fiscal responsibility, and environmental stewardship. Many people don’t realize that road salt is a dangerous environmental pollutant that affects local waterways and aquatic life. One teaspoon of salt permanently pollutes 5 gallons of water! During an event, Carol Stream can easily use 100 tons of rock salt, salt brine, and organics to battle a storm.
By training and implementing best practices we find new ways to conserve salt, which saves money and helps our environment. All while keeping our streets safe. Our first step in this balance is collecting good data which helps us understand the most effective way to address a weather event. Before an event is even underway, staff monitors local weather services and computer models to help anticipate what our community may need.
Have you ever seen long stretches of perfectly parallel white lines on our roads? Or have you smelled a sweet, Coca-Cola like scent after a Public Works truck drives by? These are signs that we are pre-treating the roads based on early storm predictions. The Village uses a special in house blend of 23.3% salt brine and they adjust the recipe as needed. Sometimes you may see the lines darken as we apply a beet juice to our mix that helps keep the pre-treatments stuck to the road and prevents the snow from sticking to our pavement.
Once the storm begins, we use all the tools in our arsenal, such as pavement temperature gauges and the current radar. This is also when the more recognizable salt operations begin. Due to the research and experience of our staff, we have crafted strict guidelines for our event response. For example, if the pavement temperature is going to be above 28 degrees, we will only need to put down 200lbs of salt per lane mile to get to our goal of a street that is clear curb to curb. This amount also decreases if we apply a liquid salt brine.
You may notice that once we do salt, we drop the salt in the crown or center of the road. This is done to fight salt lost due to bouncing and creates a better melting effect down to the curb line. During colder temperatures, the salt can take time to break down the ice making the road safer for travel. Through all of this, Public Works continues to monitor the weather and check in on locations that may need additional cleanup.
Salting is one part of our dedicated efforts to not only keep our community safe during a weather event, but also to be responsible stewards for our environmental future. To learn more about our winter operations, check out our Snow and Ice Plan!
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During our winters, it’s usually not a question of whether we will get snow, but when and how much. While it doesn’t always come at a convenient time, we ask that you take care when shoveling or blowing snow to keep it off public streets.
Snow should be moved to your yard or parkway. When clearing the end of your driveway, shovel snow to the side, in the direction of traffic while clearing a pocket on the opposite side of your driveway.
Doing so will create space so that when Village snowplows move down your street, snow will end up in that pocket, not your driveway.
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We are joining communities across the State in urging Springfield to restore local funding for essential services to fulfill the State’s agreement with municipalities.
The Local Government Distributive Fund (LGDF) is a portion of Illinois income taxes, paid by you, our local residents and businesses, that are collected by the State and redistributed back to municipalities on a per capita basis.
LGDF typically accounts for about 15.3% of our operating budget, funding services such as police protection, road repairs, and snow plowing. It also helps avoid increases to property taxes. Read more to learn how you can help!
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Utility Support Available |
In addition to the LIHEAP Energy Assistance for low-income households, DuPage County is now offering LIHWAP. This is a one-time water and wastewater assistance for those that are facing the threat of disconnection, have already been disconnected or have past due balances over $250. Requests for assistance can be made by calling (630) 407-6500 or by email.
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Did you know you may be eligible for FREE tax preparation? AARP assists low to moderate income seniors with their taxes. The College of DuPage provides student volunteers to assist the general public with taxes. For questions or to be considered for virtual assistance this spring please email this program. |
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We are now accepting applications for enrollment in our winter Citizens Police Academy. The 10-week program will be held on Thursday evenings beginning February 16, 2023, from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm. For more information, please contact Officer Carol at (630) 871-6201 or by email.
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Residents and businesses can recycle their broken holiday light strands that include twinkle lights, traditional bulb, LED and rope lights at Village Hall through January 27, 2023. Light up yard ornaments will not be accepted. |
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Village of Carol Stream
500 N Gary Ave. Carol Stream, IL
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