Officials go above and beyond to prepare city for brunt of last week’s winter storm
Preparations for last week’s winter storm were stalled in Avery because of a lack of communication from key city management, officials said.
“The night before the weather was supposed to hit, I normally reach out to each community … and start discussing strategy. I was gaining posture to get a situational mapping of where everybody was at. And part of my gaining posture was to reach out to the communities and talk about critical infrastructure, warming shelters, generators, fuel and that kind of stuff” said Jake Brockett, Red River County emergency management coordinator.
“I was having trouble getting contact with roles and positions within the city organization that I was used to getting in contact with, like the water department, the mayor and the city secretary. I just could not get anybody to pick up the phone.”
Brockett said he was able to get in contact with Alex Atchley and was informed Atchley no longer held the position of mayor but gave him the contact for the acting mayor Connie Kedrowski.
Kris Posey and Shay Posey were the contacts for public works/water and city secretary, respectively. The inability to reach these key officials in the city caused a delay in preparations that should have been completed Thursday before the front hit, Brockett said.
Freezing weather preparations include ensuring the water tower is completely filled with water and setting up a backup generator to maintain power to the wastewater treatment plant.
“We got hold of Taylor (Gilreath) … from my understanding, nobody was operating the water system,” Brockett said. “We didn’t know where the keys were to a point and I had to start calling adjacent water jurisdictions and their operators.”
Gilreath, Brockett said, was able to gain access to the water tower and a former city employee met them at the treatment plant about 10 p.m. to begin the rundown.
Gilreath and operators from other local water departments began working through the procedures, Brockett said. At that point, he contacted state officials to request emergency help under the state disaster declaration from the Office of the Governor.
Requests went out to the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Services (TEEX) through the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) for a Public Works Response Team (PWRT).
“I requested for a certified water operator from TEEX and a generator. And we coordinated with SWEPCO. With Taylor, SWEPCO, TEEX and the fire chief, we were able to order pallets of water for the community,” Brockett said. “I was able to order a PWRT. Those are technical specialists that are licensed in our critical infrastructure.”
Preparations that should have been completed Thursday before the cold front hit were not completed until the first part of the following week, Brockett said.
Brockett said the response from TEEX and neighboring water districts allowed the site to continue operations without power failures or water line breaks during the severe temperatures, but said the lack of communication left Avery “vulnerable.”
“It’s like I showed up to a town and everybody that was supposed to be in charge … seemed to have stepped away in a manner that left a lot of exposure. A lot of people vulnerable,” he said.
“I believe our critical infrastructure, like water and sewer, is detrimental to any community and it’s a must. It needs to be a constant operation any day of the week. And the conversations I had with the state was that even if the snowstorm hadn’t come in, if I had found this out, my actions would have been the same … That’s the severity it was in,” Brockett added.
The issues with City of Avery leadership, why key figures were not in place for emergency management officials to contact and a Texas Rangers investigation into possible criminal actions inside Avery City Hall will be included in a story in next week’s issue of the Tribune.
