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Irving recognizes city employees, touts 'What Works Cities' gold certification and details winter-storm response
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Summary
Irving leaders honored city employees, accepted a 'What Works Cities' gold certification and reviewed winter-storm operations after an arctic blast that produced sleet and limited ice. Emergency response, sanding operations and shelters were readied; staff briefed council on lessons and next steps.
IRVING, Texas — The Irving City Council on Jan. 29 recognized municipal employees for service and announced the city had earned gold-level certification from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ What Works Cities initiative, while emergency management staff summarized the city’s response to a recent arctic weather event.
"This is our opportunity each year to recognize our exceptional employees of the year," said Chris (city staff member introducing the awards), as the council honored recipients in administrative, field, management, professional and technical categories. Award winners named by staff included Rebecca Ortiz, Jenna Johnson, Robert Hurtado, Kenneth Bloom, Kimberly Ellison, Israel Hernandez, Gabriela Garza and Jason Russell. Recipients receive a $200 check and a designated parking space.
Mayor Pro Tem read a proclamation recognizing Irving’s completion of the What Works Cities assessment. "As of January 14, we have officially certified in gold at a city level," Lauren Hale, Strategic Services senior manager, told the council, explaining the program’s eight categories and 43 governance standards and citing projects such as a code-enforcement hot-spot study and a municipal drainage pilot as examples used in the city’s submission.
Emergency Management Coordinator Jason Carrier summarized the weather impacts and response, saying the Dallas–Fort Worth airport preliminary estimate recorded about 2.4 inches of combined sleet and snow for the event and that ice accumulations across Irving were generally a tenth to a quarter of an inch. Carrier said streets crews spread more than 900 cubic yards of sand and that traffic operations deployed generators to six intersections that lost power. "We rostered city staff for potential EOC, warming center and call center activations," he said, adding the city stood ready though warming centers were ultimately not needed.
Carrier and staff reported operational figures: the police department handled an increased incoming call volume during the event, traffic and water crews responded to outages and water-main breaks, and fire department staffing and response were bolstered to meet demand. Council members thanked staff and local nonprofits; Councilman Dennis reported the emergency shelter and its overflow averaged about 140 people between two locations during peak days.
City leaders said the operations and data-focused work — from emergency logistics to the What Works Cities certification effort — aim to improve outcomes for residents and to inform budget and program decisions going forward. Staff said the city will continue to refine preparedness and communications for future extreme-weather events.
The presentation was informational; no formal action was taken.
