FALCONER – Due to the harsh conditions that have pummeled Chautauqua County recently, two area towns found themselves working together to piece together enough salt to clear roads.

The salt that had been ordered by the county Public Facilities Department ran low, forcing the county to conservatively disperse the little that was remaining. This would cause shortages throughout towns, yet a story of municipal collaboration emerged from all the chaos.

At the recent Ellicott Town Board meeting on Feb. 3, Highway Superintendent Robert Pickett detailed more about the effects of the shortage. Pickett stated that, around mid-January, Ellicott had nearly run out of salt. This was because of a shortage at the county level. Pickett stated that the town of Carroll stepped up to loan some material to Ellicott even though their supply was also running low. When there was no more salt between the two, Ellicott began to use sand, which is what had been being used in the week leading up to the meeting.

“The county now has salt back, so we’re back to putting salt down. Luckily, below zero sand is better than salt anyway,” said Pickett. “It worked out at the right time of year, but for next year I would like to come up with a place so I can get some sort of covered sand storage. Because this is two years in a row.”

Timothy Card, county public facilities director, said the county is supplied by the American Rock Salt company. While Card did specify the cause behind the error, Card stated that there was ultimately a delay in the county receiving the salt orders. While the county never fully ran out of salt, there was so little that it had to be used sparingly especially considering its high demand at that moment, according to Card. Card said orders and shipping have again returned to normal at this time.

“I think we’re in fairly decent shape with our salt supply. We just need some nice warm weather to help us, you know,” said Card. “Things are getting restocked, and we just have to keep ordering as we’re using it and hopefully they can keep us supplied.”