Borough Looks to Share Brine Machine for Icy Roads

Chatham Borough will team with the nearby municipalities of the City of Summit, the Borough of New Providence and the Township of Millburn for an automated brine maker.

Brine is water saturated with salt. Millburn Township Administrator Tim Gordon said the brine can be applied to the street before an upcoming storm and it helps slow the build-up of snow and ice. Additionally, the brine can be mixed with the salt and it will make it more effective against the ice and snow on the roads.

While the machine would be shared among the aforementioned municipalities, it would be housed in the Summit Public Works Facility on Chatham Road. 

The machine will also be equipped with software that will track daily and seasonal data and distinguish between users for accurate account of use.

The Chatham Borough Council will shortly consider a Joint Purchasing Agreement with Summit, New Providence and Millburn to buy the machine. The council next meets on Monday evening.

Summit approved their portion of the Joint Purchasing Agreement on Tuesday, contingent on the other towns approving their portion.

Bob Venezia, the head of the borough's Department of Public Works, was not immediately available for comment Thursday.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story contained a word which several Chatham Patch readers found offensive. It was not our intent to offend. Chatham Patch has removed the word and apologizes to its readers.