News Flash

As a result of the weather, we worked with a skeleton crew the majority of the week.  Most of our employees live out of town, and several of them were "iced in" most of the week.

We spent the majority of the week clearing parking lots and entrances to the hospital, JISD campuses, several businesses, access roads to the Water and Wastewater Treatment Plants, the Sheriff's Department, the Prison, and Greystone Nursing Home.  We want to thank the Jack County Commissioners for assisting with clearing the parking area at the Elementary School.  We also want to thank Oncor for all the preparatory work they have done to ensure our electric grid did not have experience any significant issues.  We only had a few reports of temporary electrical outages last weekend, as well as some low-pressure gas issues.  Texas Gas was able to quickly respond to the low-pressure gas issues.

I attended a Board of Directors meeting for Texas Health Benefits Pool Wednesday thru Friday.

We did have one water line break on West College Street.  We cannot be certain if it was directly related to the weather, however we are watching closely for any other issues as everything begins to thaw out.

In addition with helping clear snow and ice, Distribution and Collection responded to twenty (21) calls for service.  Several of these were weather related.  Last week a number of people requested we turn their water off due to the pending snow/ice, and this week we turned the water back on.

The Building Inspector completed ten (10) inspections and/or plan reviews.  He also assisted with the Animal Shelter due to some minor damages as a result of the ice.

The Fire Department responded to thirty-one (31) calls for service.  Twelve (12) of those calls were in the city limits, and nineteen (19) were in the county.  Thirteen (13) calls were EMS related, thirteen (13) were public assists, one (1) structure fire, one (1) environmental call, and three (3) calls were canceled enroute.  The majority of the calls were related to icy weather conditions, which resulted in an elevated call volume for the department.  Hazardous road conditions and weather-related incidents contributed primarily to increased EMS responses and public assist calls, placing additional operational demands on personnel and equipment.  Despite the challenging weather conditions and increased call volume, Fire Department personnel remained fully operational and continued to provide timely and professional service to the residents of both the City and the county.

All of our employees, to include the Volunteer Firefighters, went above and beyond this week to either help people that were stranded due to the weather, or help clear streets and parking lots. Shalyn Burritt was the Acting City Manager while I was out of town, and Chief Jeremy Jennings directed the operational side.

Our Employee Spotlight of the Week is Crystal Mitchell.  Despite the weather conditions, Crystal made sure to go to the Animal Shelter and clean the buildings and ensure the animals were fed and safe.  Crystal works in Utility Billing but is always willing to assist other departments when needed.

Our next City Council Meeting is February 9, 2026, at 5:30 PM.

Respectfully,

Mike S.