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Angst over municipal response to Winter Storm Mara were voiced and addressed last Tuesday.
During the Feb. 7 City Council meeting, City Manager Tom Mattis and other staff reviewed Elgin’s actions when Winter Storm Mara ravaged the area. Resident concerns and council discussion focused on the city’s use of the Elgin Recreation Center as a place to warm during the chilly weather.
“There seems to be a confusion on a number of people's part about what an emergency shelter is,” said Mattis, “and although this has been our operation plan since it opened, that's why wetried to go through more details about that this evening to share that information.”
Mattis further explained current regulations in regards to the recreation center and how it can be used during emergencies. However, he added that the council can direct city staff to make changes or invest in resources to address situations such as Mara differently if they so choose.
“There's no event, no project that that we ever do that debriefing at the end is not valuable andwe talk about ways we can do things better,” said Mattis, “so we're certainly open to doing that if the council directs that to happen.”
Winter Storm Mara blew through Bastrop County and much of the U.S. Jan. 31-Feb. 3. Power outages, icy roads, freezing rain and temperatures, and downed trees forced closures and effectively kept residents home for days. Mayor Theresa McShan issued a disaster declaration Feb. 6.
Like past winter storms, outages led to chilly days and nights within homes as temperatures dropped below freezing. The Elgin Recreation Center and Elgin Public Library were opened at various times Feb. 2-5 for services such as free coffee, Wi-Fi and charging stations. On Feb. 4, McShan addressed social media comments that asked why the Recreation Center wasn’t used as a warming shelter.
“City staff were monitoring the conditions of the roads the status of electrical outages and did not receive any calls from citizens stating that they needed shelter,” said McShan.
Residents still came to the council meeting expressing concern as to why there wasn’t more access to the recreation center.
“All of y'all have the opportunity to make a change for our residents, change policy” said Grant Hennig. “If it's below 32 degrees or if it's above 100 degrees and a resident doesn't have electricity in this town, they should be able to go to a cooling center or a warming center, and that can easily be that Rec Center.”
The rec center can and has been called into use as an emergency shelter but not as a warming center. Although severe weather can trigger an official emergency, severe weather alone doesn’t trigger one.
“The city of Elgin's procedures, obligations and resources are not for a warming center,” said Mattis. “There's no middle ground between current operations and a center where we invite people to come in. The only way to do that is if we open the emergency shelter.”
Despite the restriction at the rec center, Mattis added that rules don’t preclude other locations opening up as a warming center.
Moving forward, though, Councilmember Joy Casnovsky said how it might time to reevaluate facility uses and services they can provide and offered some suggestions.
“I do think it's a time for us to say … what did we learn from this experience, what could we potentially do differently and serve differently,” said Casnovsky.
Mattis closed by saying he was proud of his team and city staff in how they served residents throughout the storm.
“We may not have served the individual needs of every single citizen that lives in the city or apparently lives outside the city,” said Mattis, “but I'm satisfied we did right by the majority ofour citizens.”
For the full Elgin City Council meeting, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP7qV9zsyac.
