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City pursues $900,000 hazard-mitigation funds, plans generators and pre-bid debris services
Summary
City staff told council they are seeking about $900,000 in hazard mitigation money to buy generators for critical sewer infrastructure, will pre-bid debris-disposal services to streamline FEMA reimbursement after disasters, and have installed radios in a new mobile command unit.
City Manager Garrett Spradlin updated the council Aug. 19 on emergency-preparedness steps the city is pursuing after recent fires and floods. Staff said they expect roughly $900,000 in hazard-mitigation grant funds and are working to size and price generators for critical sewer infrastructure — the wastewater plant and key lift stations — so the city can maintain sewer operations during power outages.
"So right now, we're working on trying to get generator sized and prized for our critical sewer infrastructure," Spradlin said. He explained the city's elevated water storage (about 11,000,000 gallons) and average daily residential use (about 1,500,000 gallons) give the community some days of water supply without power, but he emphasized sewer outages create larger public-health risks if sewer systems fail.
Spradlin also said the city will pre-bid debris-disposal services and pre-permit potential disposal sites to avoid procurement delays that can jeopardize FEMA reimbursement following a disaster. "If we don't have a disaster, we will never use the bid. But if we have a disaster, we have it pre-bid... there is no waiver for an emergency to go through the procurement process," he said.
Other preparedness items discussed included installation of radios in a new mobile command unit (to be shown at a regional emergency-management conference), participation in TDEM training and the state resource request (STAR) training for administrative staff, and plans for disaster-resource web pages that can be published quickly after an event.
Spradlin told council the city will also consider a disposal bid for roll-off containers and likely coordinate with regional agencies on pre-permitting for temporary disposal sites. He said the goal is to reduce logistical delays that have complicated debris management in other local disasters.
