Responding to frustration over the mix of snow, ice, and extreme cold that paralyzed the city at the end of January and into February, Gorton plans to hire a private contractor to ramp up Lexington's response to future events.
We’re looking for help when we have weather conditions that we do not have the tools to handle.Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton
As Commissioner of Environmental Quality and Public Works Nancy Albright put it in a review, officials are having to think more long-term — considering the possibility that recent weather patterns aren't an aberration.
"We understand and appreciate (that) we have seen two of those that are way outside of normal in the last 13 months," she said. "What we'd like to figure out is do we have a new normal that we have to look at."
That "new normal" might require heavy construction equipment better suited to handle stubborn ice that won't respond to rock salt when temperatures linger in the single digits.
During the city's initial review, Vice Mayor Dan Wu asked if the larger equipment might also make for more work following a storm.
He asked how the agency might balance the use of construction equipment that would be more effective in pushing the heavier material and "the potential for more damage, especially to paving, that we still have to deal with after everything melts."
Albright said conditions often dictate what lengths the city wants to go to remove ice, describing equipment like graters as a last resort.
Hear more on the city's winter storm post-mortem
Gorton said in a release this week that Lexington is looking for help in facing weather conditions that "we do not have the tools to handle."
Companies will have until March 10 to submit a bid on the new proposal.