Residents say utility trench blocked College Street, disabled emergency access; city seeks monthly coordination with Mustang

GUNTER, Texas — Residents told the joint Gunter City Council and EDC meeting on Nov. 7 that a trench cut and water outage performed by Mustang blocked College Street, prevented emergency access and left families and emergency responders unable to reach children on a school bus.

In public comment, a resident who lives near the incident said the closure took about six minutes for a private driver to navigate around but prevented access for others and left parents “distraught.” The resident urged the city to seek penalties for future unnotified closures and to improve its public notifications.

Staff said Mustang’s trench cut halted traffic and that fire and other emergency resources were delayed; the fire captain had spoken with Mustang and the city intends to meet monthly with Mustang operations to improve coordination. Staff also suggested the city use its website and an email/ticker alert system to notify residents quickly when roads or services are disrupted.

Why it matters: Council members said uncoordinated work that blocks a primary access route creates a public-safety risk and undermines trust between residents and utility operators. Several residents said they were not warned and the fire chief said he had not been notified of the closure.

What’s next: Staff will pursue a notification approach (web/email/ticker) and continue coordination with Mustang and the county; council and staff discussed potential interlocal agreements for maintenance and notification protocols but did not adopt penalties at the meeting.