After meeting with three bidders at a special meeting last Friday morning, Dufferin county's Public Works Committee approved a director's recommendation to accept the lowest of three bids for a snowblower.

The special meeting had been called after the committee failed to reach an agreement at its regular meeting on the type of blower required for the nature of work to be performed.

The recommendation was for a 145 horsepower, double auger reversible machine at a cost of $130,000. Amaranth Mayor Don MacIver preferred a triple-auger, 220 horsepower model.

The recommendation by the director of public works had been based on the satisfactory performance of the smaller machine during demonstrations on County Road 124, and possibly that the machine came well within the budget, which had been set at $165,000.

A video viewed by the committee last Friday showed the preferred model performing to the standards required by the county.

Public Works Director Trevor Lewis said outside the meeting that the machine might not be in service every day, but it would be used more frequently than if the county were using a snow-blowing contractor.

It would not mean the end of using snowplows on County 124, but it will be used to blow away the windrows left by the plows along some problem areas of the road. The windrows act in the same manner as snow fences. The prevailing west wind would deposit drifting snow on the roadway.

He said the recommended machine "would blow it far enough away" to prevent a windrow.

Other considerations in the selection of a blower included the relative ease of moving the smaller machine around obstacles such as mail boxes and bridge abutments.

But the most vital consideration was whether or not it would perform to the standards required by the county.

The council is expected to agree with the recommendation at its meeting on Sept. 11.