As the city of Plano and its residents recover from the harsh winter storms the week of Feb. 15, city staff is urging council members to move quickly on financial relief options.
"The last week has been historic for the city of Plano," City Manager Mark Israelson said at a Feb. 22 City Council meeting. "We started with a weather emergency, followed by a power emergency, followed by a water emergency, followed by a property emergency, and now we're in a financial emergency in the city of Plano."
At its peak of power loss, the city had roughly 50,000 homes with interrupted power, many of which had prolonged outages, Israelson said. The Plano Police Department and Plano Fire-Rescue responded to a combined 5,367 calls from Feb. 14-18. Daily demand for water doubled as residents dripped water faucets, and pipes burst around the city. More than 300 emergency calls for water shutoffs were made between Feb. 19-21, he said.
Following the city's immediate relief efforts of opening a warming station, handing out water and opening recreation centers for free showers, staff and city leadership found themselves in a financial situation, Israelson said.
Israelson received council approval at a special meeting Feb. 26 for the authority to make fee waivers for additional relief from the weather emergency. This includes, but is not limited to, allowing temporary storage for pods at residential properties, waiving construction and demolition charges for dumping at the transfer station, and waiving residential plumbing fees, Israelson said.
On Feb. 26, Israelson received council approval at a special meeting for the authority to make fee waivers for additional relief from the weather emergency. This includes, but is not limited to, allowing temporary storage for pods at residential properties, waiving construction and demolition charges for dumping at the transfer station, and waiving residential plumbing fees, Israelson said.
A webpage dedicated to answering resident questions following the winter storms also became active on the city of Plano's website Feb. 24. The Plano Recovers webpage compiles information for housing and business assistance and Federal Emergency Management Agency resources, as well as local resources for food, health and utilities.
