Editor’s Note: This is the first part in a series to be featured over the next few weeks.
Many would say a Valentine outing with their sweetie on Sunday followed by a Monday holiday and a four-day work week would be something to look forward to. However, that may not be the case with Valentine week 2021 in Texas.
Recently, I met with Scott Glaze, Public Works Director, and Jesse Hunt, Water/Wastewater Superintendent, to find out what happened during their Valentine week. Here is their story:
Monday was a holiday for City employees, and most of them were off. Tuesday, the ice made it very hard to get in to work. No trash route was run because someone would have gotten hurt. Scott said they tried to get the word out about trash pickup as much as they could.
On Tuesday, the Sanitation crews were able to pick up the business dumpsters up and down Wallace Street, but that was quite a feat due to the weather.
Then, on Thursday and Friday, Juan and Sanitation guys really stepped up to the challenge and were able to catch up with residential pickups, even with missing Monday and Tuesday. They were back to normal the next week like they had never missed a beat.
The biggest challenge for the daunting task of getting water to the city: lack of power. The rolling blackouts also affected the water plant. Scott, Jesse and their crews would get the pumps going, then power would go out.
Power was needed to diagnose the problems. When the power went out, everything stopped. Pumps stopped pumping. Computers would go off. Parts would freeze up. Equipment would not start up. Diesel turned to gel in the machines. Valves would freeze. Scott and Jesse also told me that parts would freeze up. They moved from issue to issue when power was on, but the power kept going off.
Diesel was a big issue. It was needed to keep the generators running to get heat. The City's generator power is designed for smaller pumps and not a complete water system. Consequently, the crews would work the best they could with the short stents of power they had. Scott said they had to keep heat on things to keep them from freezing up. That way when power came on, the City could pump water just as hard and fast as possible so water could flow to everyone.
Communication among crew members was also quite a challenge; no one could call the other crews in town. They had to go find them in the ice and snow. Phones would not stay charged because of so many calls. Phones could only be charged and calls made when electricity was available. As most of us know and experienced, the cell service went out most of the time when the electricity went out.
First things first. Wells and distribution pumps had to get going. There are a total of seven wells. A couple of wells had to be reset. One well’s pump burned up, and that well is still down at this time.
The distribution pump sends water from the water plant to the storage tanks which provide pressure to the community. Scott stated they were only able to send half as much water to that tank, which means the process of filling it was slower. Because of the rolling blackouts, there were only small windows of time to pump water.
Repairing the distribution pump took three days. A part needed for repair was found at a Brownwood store. However, this store was not delivering due to the weather. Mayor Ken Jordan's friend in Brownwood picked up the part and drove it to Goldthwaite where he met Mayor Jordan. Mayor Jordan then brought it here to the crew in San Saba. This all occurred on Wednesday when ice was the worst.
The high system pump was a huge problem and probably the most challenging. It finally was repaired Wednesday night. Scott told the story of how the Electric Department (which consists of linemen, not electricians) was with his crews the entire time and diagnosed most of the problems. Furthermore, some problems went beyond what the linemen could do.
Thus, the City brought in industrial electricians from Grimsley Electric, Inc., out of Brownwood, driving in ice to get to San Saba. However, even Grimsley electricians had difficulty with some of the pump issues.
Scott relayed a story of how Grimsley electricians found a defective pump part. Scott asked Jesse, “Jesse, would you ever happen to have one of these?” Jesse looked down at the toolbox in front of him and said, “Yep, I have one right here.” Jesse told me some parts are kept in inventory, but they didn’t know why this particular part was right there in that room, right in front of them just when they needed it. Scott said, “It just goes to show you how God works in mysterious ways.”
Scott emphasized how the City Electric Department stayed with the Water crew. There was a pump to go out in the high system pump house, and these guys helped diagnose the problem. There were a lot of component failures; they would just quit. Scott and Jesse said they had mixed teams of Electric and Water employees going from site to site to diagnose and fix issues. He also said the Electric crews helped in getting machinery and diesel.
There was a water leak on Wallace Street Tuesday night that took until about 4:00 a.m. Wednesday morning to get repaired. The frigid temperatures proved to be quite a problem with this repair.
Thursday morning, Scott said they started calling in workers around 8:00-9:00 a.m. to help with pipes breaking at people’s houses. Every department pitched in to help Jesse and his crew, including the Street Department and Electric Department.
There were water pipes busted everywhere. Jesse said they had crews drive around town looking for water coming down the road. They would follow it to a house and notify a homeowner. Sometimes the family would be in the house and had no idea their water was leaking.
Even though things have slowed down considerably for the City employees, there are components still needing repair, and one well is still down. There are houses with continued leaks or water line breaks. Several of the valves that went to homes that had to be turned off didn’t work, so they are having to be replaced.
While the City crews worked long, hard hours, their families were at home battling no power, no water, and trying to stay warm. When the City crews finally went home, they went home to no power, water issues and lack of heat issues at home.
When it was all said and done, many City employees had worked 18-hour days, but thankfully, no one was hurt during the whirlwind week. Scott and Jesse said many more community members helped them out during the hard week. Here are just a few:
• Jody Fauley called one day and said it was set up at Pepperbelly's for all City employees to get something to eat "free of charge."
• City Manager Weik and his wife prepared food and brought it down to the City crews.
• San Saba's First Baptist Church ladies brought tacos for everybody one morning.
• Shelia Meador from Farm Bureau Insurance brought kolaches and donuts one morning the following week.
• Mayor Jordan and his wife brought snack foods for the crews through the night shifts.
• Water - Many community members are wanting to donate money to replenish the bottled water reserve after the recent community hand out.
Many are still thanking the City employees for what they did. Scott and Jesse said they do not see it as going the extra mile, but they see it as their job – to provide for the citizens. So many times, we as a community, city, and county take them for granted!
Here are your City crews who worked so hard for you during the Valentine week weather event (and continue to do so!):
• Water Department – Jesse Hunt (Water/Wastewater Superintendent), Robbie Hensley, Lucas Watson, Cody Mann
• Electric Department – Denver Daniels (Electrical Department Superintendent), G.T Meador, Kyle Anderson, Jake Uptain, Bill Wallace
• Sanitation Department – Juan Montoya, Richard Reynolds, Jose Rocha, Ramiro Martinez, Paul Alcorn, Alonzo Jimenez, and Robert Carroll
• Parks Department – Eugene Bessant, Eric Morgan, Wayne Yarbrough, Amado Vasquez, Chris Stewart
• Street Department – Luis Rios, John Whitney, Cole McDowell, Gaspon McCurry
• Fleet Maintenance – Norman Pierce helped fix a backhoe.
• General Maintenance Department – Bruce Stewart
• Utilities – Charlene Lindsay, Sabrina Maultsby, Zane Churchill
Please note: If you know of someone (individual or group) who went above and beyond the call of duty to help out during this time of dire emergency, please let us know by submitting a brief written or typed article of who, what, when and where. Or, if something wonderful was done for you and you want to call out that person and give praise, submit a brief statement to the paper. Our email address is: editor.sansabanews@centex.net