Twelve Days When the City Came Together
Galletly Describes Heroic Actions of Citizens, City Workers
City Manager Bill Galletly described the heroic actions of hundreds of volunteers and city employees who worked up to four days without a break in helping deal with the historic ice storm that struck the city Friday, Jan. 12 and continued until Tuesday, Jan. 23.
When he was finished, some 90 Rotarians gave him a standing ovation in appreciation for all that was accomplished by volunteers and city workers.
"It has been a pleasure for me to have my job the past 10 days," Galletly said. "The people of Grove came together, put aside all differences despite all of the past turmoil, and worked to overcome the ice storm."
He told of how the city's Emergency Operations Center went into action Friday afternoon when power outages first started occurring. "Over the weekend we went door to door to see who needed help. One elderly lady was taken to the hospital, who eventually died, he said, "and that was our only known casualty." He said 400 people in Grove are on oxygen and need electricity to power their units "and they were all taken care of."
"For some reason the Moose Lodge was the only building that did not have a power loss, so it was used as the initial shelter. People from Cornerstone Church volunteered their building as well and with the addition of the Civic Center, three shelters were put to use. We bought food, clothing, supplies, even built showers in the Civic Center, and the volunteers came forth and cooked three meals a day at each of the shelters, feeding hundreds of people who had no place to go," he said.
The Moose Lodge alone housed 140 people plus another 70-80 for dinner; the city purchased wood and distributed it to people who needed it for the fireplaces. City employees manned the shelters and did not go home for four days, he said. After Wal-Mart had donated truckloads of water and it was determined that Grove did not need it, the water was taken to Jay, Kansas and Colcord. which had no water at all."
"In a disaster there are no boundaries, we were all in this together," Galletly said.
Streets were kept clear by workers from parks and recreation and other departments that joined in the effort.
"When we needed three 4-wheel drive vehicles, we called Jeff Lundgren and he came up with them right away," Galletly said. "Every restaurant in town donated cooked food for the shelters, church workers from five or six churches came out to help. "No one ever turned us down when we asked for help," Galletly said.
The pumps that take the water from Grand Lake into the city system were out for 18 hours "but we managed to avoid a disaster when PSO got electricity to them and the city was never in danger of losing the system," he added.
When asked if FEMA had contributed anything, Galletly said "FEMA has not shown up yet, so how could we get upset with them."
Galletly said the city had been divided into 12 zones and chipper units are already at work to clean up the thousands of tons of tree debris. "This may take two to three months to get the entire city cleared, but be assured we will do it. It needs to be cut into six foot lengths and stacked at the edge of the street," he said.
He said the Emergency Management Center has scheduled a meeting for Monday to go over the disaster plan and see what improvements can be made in the event of a repeat.
Dave Helms, a Rotarian and City Councilman, told the group that Galletly seemingly was everywhere the past 12 days and did not get his own electricity turned on until Tuesday.
"The man really did an incredible job," Helms said. "He was already in Oklahoma City and on his way for a vacation when he turned around and came back to Grove to help manage the storm response."
Jaime Zellow of PSO said crews from out of state were really impressed by the way people in Grove responded to them and their needs.
On the issue of trash collection, Galletly said staff would be working on a proposal for the city to take over the trash collection service and would present it to City Council shortly.
"Our trash company basically took last week off, even when we assured them the streets were safe," Galletly said.
City Manager Bill Galletly described the heroic actions of hundreds of volunteers and city employees who worked up to four days without a break in helping deal with the historic ice storm that struck the city Friday, Jan. 12 and continued until Tuesday, Jan. 23.
When he was finished, some 90 Rotarians gave him a standing ovation in appreciation for all that was accomplished by volunteers and city workers.
"It has been a pleasure for me to have my job the past 10 days," Galletly said. "The people of Grove came together, put aside all differences despite all of the past turmoil, and worked to overcome the ice storm."
He told of how the city's Emergency Operations Center went into action Friday afternoon when power outages first started occurring. "Over the weekend we went door to door to see who needed help. One elderly lady was taken to the hospital, who eventually died, he said, "and that was our only known casualty." He said 400 people in Grove are on oxygen and need electricity to power their units "and they were all taken care of."
"For some reason the Moose Lodge was the only building that did not have a power loss, so it was used as the initial shelter. People from Cornerstone Church volunteered their building as well and with the addition of the Civic Center, three shelters were put to use. We bought food, clothing, supplies, even built showers in the Civic Center, and the volunteers came forth and cooked three meals a day at each of the shelters, feeding hundreds of people who had no place to go," he said.
The Moose Lodge alone housed 140 people plus another 70-80 for dinner; the city purchased wood and distributed it to people who needed it for the fireplaces. City employees manned the shelters and did not go home for four days, he said. After Wal-Mart had donated truckloads of water and it was determined that Grove did not need it, the water was taken to Jay, Kansas and Colcord. which had no water at all."
"In a disaster there are no boundaries, we were all in this together," Galletly said.
Streets were kept clear by workers from parks and recreation and other departments that joined in the effort.
"When we needed three 4-wheel drive vehicles, we called Jeff Lundgren and he came up with them right away," Galletly said. "Every restaurant in town donated cooked food for the shelters, church workers from five or six churches came out to help. "No one ever turned us down when we asked for help," Galletly said.
The pumps that take the water from Grand Lake into the city system were out for 18 hours "but we managed to avoid a disaster when PSO got electricity to them and the city was never in danger of losing the system," he added.
When asked if FEMA had contributed anything, Galletly said "FEMA has not shown up yet, so how could we get upset with them."
Galletly said the city had been divided into 12 zones and chipper units are already at work to clean up the thousands of tons of tree debris. "This may take two to three months to get the entire city cleared, but be assured we will do it. It needs to be cut into six foot lengths and stacked at the edge of the street," he said.
He said the Emergency Management Center has scheduled a meeting for Monday to go over the disaster plan and see what improvements can be made in the event of a repeat.
Dave Helms, a Rotarian and City Councilman, told the group that Galletly seemingly was everywhere the past 12 days and did not get his own electricity turned on until Tuesday.
"The man really did an incredible job," Helms said. "He was already in Oklahoma City and on his way for a vacation when he turned around and came back to Grove to help manage the storm response."
Jaime Zellow of PSO said crews from out of state were really impressed by the way people in Grove responded to them and their needs.
On the issue of trash collection, Galletly said staff would be working on a proposal for the city to take over the trash collection service and would present it to City Council shortly.
"Our trash company basically took last week off, even when we assured them the streets were safe," Galletly said.
posted by Editor | 12:45 AM
6 Comments:
No one EVER showed up in our neighborhood. You must have gotten your information from the City Manager, 'blowing his own horn'. It was neighbor helping neighbor. When people called city hall about the garbage they were given the phone # of the Trash Company instead of taking action themselves. -- As for the Trash Company, one lady got the answer that the streets were too icy. Another that they would be in the way of PSO trucks and another that they 'were running late'and would be around the next day. They also said that they had put the information on the radio, but when asked which one -- the answer was Springfield,MO. and they said the caller could call the Station here, not them. And then they told another that they would NOT pick up the garbage for freezers and fridges.. That would have to be taken to the trash place out by the Airport.A good neighbor moved large trees out of the road, not the city crew, which I understand were told to go home. And a lot of people were unhappy to see the mayor get power when that neighborhood had to do without. There are lots of stories out there, but in the long haul -- it was neighbor helping neighbor.
OH Mister Editor
You have been gone a long time. It was a shock to read the only story you have had in several weeks praising the City Manager. Why not do a story on what a great job PSO did on getting electricity back while REC flounders. Or maybe the $900,000 dollars that the city lost because they messed up and did not charge Simmions for natural gas over a three year period. Or how about a story on the little guys in the city who did the real work to keep things working. Almost makes you not want to read this anymore. Asking David Helms how the city manager did is like askin Bill Clinton if Hillary would make a good president. A little partisan I would say. I seriously do not believe the city manager was going to take a vacation with a big GMSA and city council meeting coming up. As for the rest he was doing his job he was paid for. Nothing more Nothing less.
Lets stop the SPIN. You should have praised all those who were out risking there lives while trees covered in Ice fell all around them.
Oh one more thing there are still hundreds on REC around here who are without power 16 days later. Not the linemans fault they have done a great job. But management really blew it. Anytime there is a disaster like this you should be truthful not sugar coat the problems.
Watch as David Helms, Carolyn Knuckles and Terry Ryan spend over 3 million plus interest for wireless meters on Gas and water next GMSA and Council meeting.
Whaaat a joke. Yeah the city manager did a great job for two weeks. Do the math. That's something like less than 2% of the time he's been in Grove. And Dave Helms, oh yeah, he will say the City Manager does a great job whenever you happen to quote him. Not one of the Observer's best articles.
Well it was a short honeymoon wasn't it.
We merely reported on what was said at the Rotary meeting, without interjecting any of our personal thoughts.
We were the only media to cover the talk.
You backbiters will take control of the city in a couple of months and then everything will be just ducky won't it.
The Editor
I don't plan on taking control of the city in a few months because I don't live there anymore. I just watch the circus from afar. Personally I don't care who's in control as long as they are more of a unifer than a divider. Mr. Editor I'm glad you covered the talk. It's just sad that it takes a disaster to bring out the team spirit in Grove. Maybe the next group in city hall can do that without a disaster, whoever that turns out to be. Grove seems a much more hostile town than the Grove I grew up in.
Just a comment about the negative signs concerning Northeast Oklahoma Electric Cooperative that some of citizens put up on a few of the roadways during the power outages this past couple of weeks. Most people don't realize that in many cases the power for their particular home could not have been restored in many instances if REC had been standing on their doorstep. You see NEO Coop does not own or generate 1 kwh of power. They purchase 100% of their customer load, and in many cases these outages were do to high voltage transmission outages on lines that serve the cooperatives substations, that are owned by PSO and GRDA.
It's true that the local REC had thousands of poles broken by the ice, and severe problems. At one time over two thirds of their customers were without power. No organization could have anticipated or prepared this type of widespread problems.
In a time such as everyone has experienced in the past couple of weeks, these people who would take the time to put up these signs should be PUBLICLY IDENTIFIED. They could have served the public interest more if they had taken that time to try and help someone who needed it.
And as far as NEO Electric EMPLOYEES, they also should be PUBLICLY IDENTIFIED and "APPLAUDED FOR THEIR DEDICATION AND HARD WORK".
I bet we don't see any of these "SIGN MAKERS" bragging about it in the paper. The next time you are genuinely dissatisfied with your NEO service, don't put up a stupid sign, just call the coop and ask them to 'DISCONNECT YOUR POWER".. I am sure someone would be happy to do it for you.
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