Staff recommends the City Council award the one-year contract with two optional one-year extensions for snow plowing on local streets to all contractors at the hourly rate of their individual bid, not to exceed $425,000 per year.  The budgeted amount for each contractor will be: Knife River $174,800; EMX $121,300; K2 $128,900. 

The City Council approved residential street snow plowing by private contractors beginning in FY18.  The City of Billings maintains over 800 lane miles of local streets and does not have sufficient labor or equipment resources to perform the service in-house.  Under this program, the successful bidders will be responsible for plowing designated local streets in Billings when Public Works determines that plowing operations are necessary.  In general, snow plowing on local streets will be initiated when: 

• Snow accumulation exceeds five (5) inches,
• Continued accumulation is forecasted, and
• No significant melting is expected in the near future. 

Public Works staff will consider long-term weather forecasts and current street conditions in making activation decisions.  Based on these factors, Public Works will determine how many contractors to activate and the extent of their deployment.  The operational approach may vary with each storm event.  With the bids received, up to twelve pieces of equipment could be activated versus a maximum of six in previous years.

The bids were requested for equipment and operators meeting the following criteria:

• A minimum of two (2) all-wheel drive motor graders with at least a 12-foot moldboard, capable of being equipped with provided snow gates.
• The City will supply used snow gates to the successful bidder upon request.  All maintenance, repair and upkeep of the equipment will be the responsibility of the contractor.
• Contractors must be fully operational within four (4) hours of activation.  City staff will provide as much advance notice as possible when activation is anticipated.
• A one-time annual payment of $500 per blade will be provided to compensate for snow gate setup in preparation for potential activation.
• Additional graders may be utilized at a mutually agreed upon price between the contractor and the City.

The Snow Plowing on Local Streets invitation for bid was advertised on October 3 & 10, 2025 in the Yellowstone County News and on the City's website.  Bids were received and opened on October 21, 2025, and three bids were received.  

City Council may:

• Approve the contract for all contractors; or,
• Approve the contract for the two lowest bids. If only Knife River and EMX are awarded contracts, only 8 pieces of equipment will be activated instead of 12 with all three contractors; If only two contracts are awarded, the Knife River contract should increase to $250,000 and the EMX contract should increase to $175,000; or
• Not approve the contract, which will result in local streets not being plowed this winter.

The City received three bids for snow plowing on local streets as shown below:
 

Vendor	Hourly price for  Equipment and  Operator Year 1	Hourly price for Equipment and Operator Year 2	Hourly price for Equipment and Operator Year 3
Knife River	4 Graders  $310.00/hr	4 Graders  $340.00/hr	4 Graders  $380.00/hr
K2 Civil	2 Graders  $450.00/hr 2 Graders  $475.00/hr	2 Graders  $500.00/hr 2 Graders  $525.00/hr	2 Graders  $550.00/hr 2 Graders  $575.00/hr
Earth Movers	2 Graders  $370.00/hr 2 Loaders  $300.00/hr	2 Graders  $370.00/hr 2 Loaders  $300.00/hr	2 Graders  $370.00/hr 2 Loaders  $300.00/hr

Snow plowing on local streets is in the approved FY26 budget in the amount of $425,000.00 using Street Maintenance District 2 funds.