San Marcos City Council Extends Disaster Declaration Regarding Winter Weather

Staff Reports

The San Marcos City Council held a special meeting Friday to consider approval of a resolution declaring and extending a local state of disaster in the City of San Marcos due to severe winter weather.

Bert Lumbreras, City Manager, said a lot of work was still being done daily related to the unprecedented weather event which occurred over the past week.

“We will be putting together an after-action review,” Lumbreras said. “An after-action review is essentially a report of the whole incident and the whole event and everything that’s gone with it, whether the plans have worked, what we had to initiate, and what we need to address as far as gaps and needs.”

Lumbreras said they aim to have it before the council in March, but there were many things that had to happen before they could.

According to Lumbreras, the declaration allows them to access Federal Emergency Management Agency funding if necessary.

Lumbreras said various aspects of the city experienced power outages from residents to the emergency center.

According to Lumbreras, the city distributed over 10,000 meals through the course of the bad weather to residents during the power outages.

Councilmember Maxfield Baker asked if the city would consider using some of its rainy-day fund to help provide housing and food for the homeless currently being sheltered from the low temperatures.

Director of Public Safety, Chase Stapp, said the city had already tapped into it for that purpose; sheltering individuals during a disaster declaration was something the city could be reimbursed for.

The council voted unanimously to approve the resolution, which will remain in effect until 12 PM on Friday, Feb. 26.