City Street Supervisor Jeff Elks said the city has 75 tons of salt to make a 23 percent solution, a formula which will adequately treat roads.

“This is our first run,” Elks said, since the completion of the plant. “Keith Hurdle of DOT was instrumental in helping to start setting it up.”

The city has three trucks fitted with application equipment and 200-gallon tanks as well as five trucks mounted with plows ready to go, Elks said. Three sand spreaders are also on stand-by.

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Public works announced last year it intended to build its own brine plant, which department Director Larry Chalker said last year has the capacity to make 3,000 gallons every 30 minutes through a process which involves flushing water through approximately 4.4 tons of salt.

Typically, the solution made at the plant is capable of dispensing 40 gallons per lane mile over streets which the city has responsibility.

The state Department of Transportation, Chalker said, is responsible for treating Tenth Street, Becker Drive and Becker Drive Extension, Bolling Road, Fourth Avenue, Premier Boulevard and Old Farm Road to the city limits at Citizens Community Bank. “If they get too busy we will come in.”

Both Chalker and Elks said there were safety concerns involved in the city's decision to build its own plant. “We don't have to ferry brine from DOT,” Chalker said. “We mix it here and load it here.”

Chalker said there is also a sense of accomplishment in finishing the plant and making the city's own solution. “It's nice to say our employees built it. We have people here — our talent is just astounding when you look at all we do from building offices to building our own brine plant.”