Crawford County Commissioners on Oct. 7 discussed bidding out snow removal services again this year, adding that snow plows struggled to keep public spaces clear last year due to the amount of winter weather the area received.

“Last year, we had a pretty extreme winter and we went over budget, quite substantially,” Presiding Commissioner Steve Black said. “What was the total? $40,000? And we budgeted $20,000. So, we were double what was budgeted.”

District 1 Associate Commissioner Mark Pfeiffer said the county road districts also incurred double the expenses of removing snow, which was not anticipated in the budget.

“We had 13 days straight that I don’t think we had a day off to speak of, let alone the next three months of snow removal,” Pfeiffer said.

Black asked if commissioners wanted to try a different strategy this year or to bid out snow removal again. Pfeiffer suggested putting the work back out for bid to a contractor, and commissioners can review the bids received so they can make a decision based on the estimates.

“Obviously, we are hoping we don’t have the winter we had in 2025, but nobody really knows what that’s going to be like,” Pfeiffer said.

County Clerk Kim Gibbs told commissioners that, for $40,000, the county could purchase a vehicle with a plow on it and a maintenance person could operate it to clear off county-owned parking lots, sidewalks and other public spaces.

District 2 Associate Commissioner Jared Boast said the bids the county sends out for potential contractors include sidewalk clearing and automatic snow removal, leaving it on the contractor to plow the areas without having to be told to do so.

“It includes the county courthouse here in Steelville, the parking lot and street, it’s all in this map, and then the sidewalk. Also, the sheriff’s office,” Boast said. 

The bid also includes the street to the front and rear of the sheriff’s office, and the coroner’s office in Cuba, ensuring that the lot is cleared without needing approval to do the work.

The county also has some on-call sites, such as a parking lot across the street from the courthouse, health department and court annex. 

Boast explained Black makes the final decision on which areas from the on-call sites need to be cleared when winter weather hits, as some are more vital than others.

“We do try to be efficient as far as what gets done automatically, but the courthouse, we do that no matter what because you never know when somebody has to come to work through the front of the house, so to say,” Boast said.

The key places that would be included as automatic clearing sites would primarily be ones that must remain open even when winter weather causes issues, such as the jail and sheriff’s office.

Commissioners said the county had only received one bid last year for snow removal services and would most likely try to encourage more bids this year before approving something.

Pfeiffer said the county could also use its own maintenance people to help pre-treat areas, some to help offset the costs.

Commissioners agreed to accept snow removal bids for the next two weeks to gauge potential costs before making a final decision.