HOWLAND — Trumbull County Engineer David DeChristofaro continued his visits to various communities, encouraging Howland officials to consider his proposition regarding salt ahead of next winter.

At Wednesday’s regular meeting, DeChristofaro introduced Lauren Hill, his director of government affairs, and noted Howland ordered 2,500 tons of salt for the 2025-26 winter season — a 90% usage rate.

DeChristofaro congratulated Public Works Director David McCann for his estimations, saying it isn’t easy to guess how much the township may use at the beginning of the year.

DeChristofaro said he will be submitting his order for the 2026-27 winter season, reiterating that the order encompasses 41 entities within the county — the only exceptions being Cortland and Liberty, who use the state’s purchasing program.

DeChristofaro said he has spoken with several communities, and Lordstown, Warren and Champion have decided to pursue the purchasing program on their own.

DeChristofaro noted those communities order large quantities themselves, with Warren ordering 6,000 and Champion and Lordstown ordering 2,000 apiece.

He said he “truly believed” that it was the best way for larger townships to go, adding that it was also fine with him if any of them or the cities decided to stay with the engineer’s office to manage and handle it.

DeChristofaro said his office is having meetings “almost on a weekly basis” with townships and villages.

“I think it would be more suitable for a community as large as Howland, with that 2,500 tons, to have it delivered to you,” DeChristofaro said.

THE SALT DOME

Trustee James LaPolla said he read about how the North River Road salt dome was purchased with a loan, correcting an earlier claim that it was funded by a 17-entity state grant.

LaPolla noted the dome’s 2013 ribbon-cutting, where it was reported that a 10-year loan funded the purchase, adding that he assumed the loan was now paid off, which DeChristofaro confirmed.

“So the dome is technically owned by all the residents of Trumbull County, correct,” said LaPolla, referring to Ohio’s Local Government Innovation Fund. “It says the loan is through the local government grant, so we’re all part of the local government grant at that time.”

“Taxes are all part of the local government grant — some type of tax revenue stream,” LaPolla said. “You gotta pay the loan back somehow over 10 years.”

DeChristofaro said they paid it back through revenue such as gas taxes and revenue from his office.

“The property is the commissioners’ property. Everything that we own over there, it’s all owned by the commissioners, which everything the commissioners own is owned by the public,” DeChristofaro said. “It all goes back to the taxpayers. But the building, just like our office, is managed by the engineer’s office.”

LaPolla noted the Ohio Local Government Innovation Fund’s purpose, encouraging “collaboration among communities and governments through making available loans and grants for sharing-type projects,” which was noted in the 2013 article.

LaPolla noted another article from 2009, where the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency “basically encouraged and required” salt and other products for roads to be kept in one spot.

LaPolla quoted DeChristofaro, suggesting that it could save the townships and county money by buying in bulk in that same 2009 article, which he said DeChristofaro now says isn’t true.

“It appears to be that the premise for building it is now being forgotten,” LaPolla said. “I think that people involved need to go back and realize that again, it’s a public facility to help cooperate between communities, villages, etc.”

LaPolla said it could help save money in the future if a bulk purchasing agreement arises, reiterating that officials shouldn’t forget why they built the dome and utilize it for the community’s betterment.

DeChristofaro said they were using it for the entire county’s benefit, but he was also suggesting that, if entities wanted to save some money on their salt delivery, they could save approximately $4 a ton from having it delivered.

DeChristofaro said it could cost $40 to $50 to haul approximately 10 tons between the county and Howland’s facilities, which is where he got the $4 figure.

“If you don’t have me do it, if you have your trucks come and pick it up, you’re paying your guys $22 an hour — plus the benefits. That’s maybe $40 an hour,” DeChristofaro said. “It’ll take them more than an hour to go to my yard, wait in line for a load, wait in line for a scale, weigh and then get back here — it’s $40 to $50 a ton.”

DeChristofaro reiterated that he wasn’t telling anyone they had to leave and that he was only giving them an extra option.

“If you don’t want to save the money, that’s your decision, not mine,” DeChristofaro said.

McCann said DeChristofaro was 100% correct and the salt dome is three miles down the road for them, but the man-hours aspect was “kind of a moot point,” because the employee was getting paid anyway and they didn’t have much going on during this time of year.

McCann recalled a time when their salt was delivered to their facility and it was stockpiled in their loader.

“We were in a predicament of wanting to purchase a new loader, and we did not have the finances or the money at the time, and our loader was about to fall apart,” McCann said. “When you were in office the first time, you brought up great points, like ‘You know what? You don’t have to buy a loader. We’ll have all the salt down the road.'”

McCann said it made things easier on the township for a little bit and they kept the loader going, salvaging it for 10 years.

“However, had it come to a point where our loader would’ve broken down, we wouldn’t have had a choice,” McCann said.

McCann said he learned over the past few years that the salt purchasing agreement is regional instead of county — pricing and the mileage involved.

McCann said it was different 10 years ago because they paid several dollars more a ton than the county for salt, noting it was a different contract and traffic agency.