Township Cancels Brine Contract With County, Adopts Private Bid for Dust Control

As residents living along Macomb Township's dirt roads can confirm, the brine applications used to control the dust are not working, said Supervisor Mark Grabow.

Grabow urged the board Wednesday night to cancel the township's contract for dust control with the Macomb County Department of Roads in favor of adopting the bid of a private company that uses calcium chloride, as opposed to brine.

"This is just not working," Grabow said, addressing the board. "As we all know, brine is used in the wintertime. They’re coming through putting this on heavy trying to make this work. It’s not working. Within the next day it’s completely gone."

On April 11, the township board approved the 2012 Dust Control Program with the Macomb County Department of Roads. Under this contract, the township agreed to pay $3,096.46 for each brine solution application, with the county covering the cost of two applications. An additional $5,000 was set aside to pay for brine as needed.

However, given the "numerous complaints from residents that live on dirt roads that the brine is not working," Grabow asked the board to cancel the contract with MCDOR and approve a new contract with the Michigan Road Maintenance Corporation.

The MRMC was the second lowest bidder for the township's dust control in April, charging $3,195.36 for a calcium chloride application. While MCDOR was willing to use calcium chloride, Grabow said he was told this would be an extra $3,400 to the township.

The board unanimously approved cancellation of contract with MCDOR and approved contracting MRMC for these road services on Wednesday.