A similar refrain came from both local governmental bodies Tuesday to those who helped get the city’s and county’s power turned on and begin early cleanup efforts after the early January winter storm: Thank you!
County Engineer Nick Stallings commended the work road department employees did throughout the frigid week that began on Jan. 5 when freezing rain and sleet started to fall and cover power lines, tree limbs and branches, and roadways.
Many businesses were closed the following days, and students didn’t attend local schools in-person throughout the week. Meanwhile, thousands of residents were cold and in the dark as crews worked around the clock to get power restored.
Henderson County Sheriff Chip Stauffer, who commended his deputies and the road crew, said he went out with deputies early in the week and said there was an “uneasy” feeling of working out in the open when branches and limbs overhead are covered in ice.
“You don’t realize how many trees overhang the roadway until there’s half an inch of ice on them,” the sheriff said.
Stauffer said what Henderson County Office of Emergency Management Director Kenny Garrett and staff did during the storm was “unbelievable.”
Garrett, who in part helps to coordinate multiple agencies during emergency events, told the Fiscal Court Tuesday that the emergency phase of the storm is over, but the recovery phase is just beginning.
He said that several volunteer groups will soon move into the county and will offer tree-cutting services for free. They will cut limbs and branches on the ground, he said.
City residents will be able to move the cut branches to the curb, where it will be picked up by city crews later, he said. County residents can burn the debris.
Garrett said the state is working on getting a federal disaster declaration approved so that this area will be eligible for federal assistance.
“We’re just getting started,” Garrett said. “It’s going to be around for a while.”
City Manager Buzzy Newman and members of the city commission echoed the praise heard at Fiscal Court. And Newman also commended the numerous departments that assisted in the massive fire at a Budge Industries warehouse at 1156 First St. that same week.
Numerous volunteer fire departments assisted Henderson Fire Department. In addition, the Henderson Police Department, Henderson Public Works Department and 911-Dispatch all helped out, Newman said.
“I just want to acknowledge and (give) congratulations to you all,” he said.
In other local government news:
- County Engineer Nick Stallings reported to the Fiscal Court that he has secured an $805,000 grant match for a $3.3 million grant that will be used to make county roads safer.
In September, Stallings informed the court that he had secured funding from the federal Safe Streets and Roads For All Grant Program. The amount coming from the federal grant program to the county will be $3.3 million. But to receive that, the county needed to provide a 20% match. Stallings applied to the state Cabinet for Economic Development’s GRANT Program of 2024, which funds entities that need money for matches to grants. On Tuesday, he informed the court that his application had been approved. The Fiscal Court will need to pay $27,000 to receive the funding, he said. With the total $4.1 million of the federal grant program, Stallings said the county will widen roads, cut down trees near roads, put more signs up and move ditches away from roads.
