Cleburne is the first city in Johnson County to join a public works partnership of North Texas municipalities that assist one another in emergency response.
The City Council approved a resolution to join the North Central Texas Public Works Emergency Response Team at its July 9 meeting. Regional team members provide public works assistance when an emergency or disaster overwhelms local resources within the North Central Texas region.
“Cleburne will be the first city in Johnson County to join and I want to call on our fellow mayors and council members in other cities and county leadership to follow suit,” Mayor Scott Cain said.
Based on lessons learned from several past natural disasters and large scale incidents, public works support is a necessary resource, which benefits from a regional approach to coordination. Emergency situations include tornadoes, high winds, hail, snow, ice, flooding, blackouts, and line ruptures. If one of the 61 participating cities needs assistance they can immediately contact all partnering agencies with requests. Public Works Director Jeremy Hutt gave an example of a power outage in Dallas, which necessitated the need for hundreds of portable stop signs. In the example, partnering cities received the requests and were able to provide assistance.
