The City of Dallas has a plan in place to make sure several city libraries and recreation centers are prepared to serve as emergency shelters during a winter storm that disrupts the power grid. The city has purchased generators to install at eight of those buildings to make sure they are able to have electricity and heat in case there is another storm like the one that hit the state in February of 2021.
The fixed generators cost the city about $1.6 million. The Dallas City Council is set to vote on Wednesday on hiring a contractor to install them on selected city buildings.
"Once that is approved, Building Services will start the work. Unfortunately, they will not be ready for this winter season," Office of Emergency Management Director Rocky Vaz told members of the City Council on Monday. He estimated the project would take six to eight months.
Council Member Cara Mendelsohn was not satisfied with that timetable.
"It seems very inefficient that we would have purchased these and not installed them...and it would take so long to do so," she said. ""If you're proposing that we pass an item for a contractor who can't do it quickly for all of them, then they may not be the right contractor for us. We need a big enough company that could perhaps work on multiple sites at a time," Mendelsohn said.
The city has also purchased six smaller generating units called "portable power packs" that are designed to supply electricity to smaller sections within a large building, such as a gymnasium within a recreation center.
"Again, there's been some delays in that," said Emergency Management Director Rocky Vaz. "The generators will be here next week. We're still waiting on the HVAC and the trailers. We're hoping to have this complete package within three to four weeks."
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