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
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