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Dayton totally dissatisfied with EOC
  
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By MIKE GEORGE
The City of Dayton, specifically the mayor and city manager are upset with and totally dissatisfied with how they were treated and the proportional lack of supplies the Greater Dayton area was getting, especially from the trickle of supplies that were first coming in.
“I’ll tell you what,” stated Mayor Steve Stephens, “The City of Dayton is going to be looking at a different setup scenario for the next emergency. I am neither satisfied nor happy with the response on this one by our county’s emergency management coordinator, Tom Branch. Take the politics out of it and just respond to the need.”
The mayor’s major concern was over the fact that of the 75,000 people who live in the county, almost half live in the area served by the Dayton Independent School District, or approximately 35,000.
Cleveland, also dissatisfied with what they were getting wound up sending police to Lufkin to escort nine trucks of water, ice and food (MRE’s) in order to take care of their own and without going through the county.
“I think the city official from Cleveland who did that did the right thing and should be commended and told him so,” said State Rep. John Otto. “I also told them that should he get any flak over his actions to have them call me.”
Mayor Stephens, and for that matter, David Douglas, the city manager felt like the distribution of supplies by the county was being distributed disproportionately without regard to the population being served. Originally, the staging area for all supplies was to be Dayton High School and then Woodrow Wilson Jr. High, but the move was made to the old Wal-Mart parking lot in Liberty.
“We did that so that all the people seeing trucks pulling into Dayton wouldn’t be giving them a hard time,” said County Judge Phil Fitzgerald.
The judge made no reference as to what people might think seeing all the trucks pulling into Liberty.
Stephens, after some heated discussions with the EOC on the phone, took matters into his own hands on Wednesday when he went to Liberty and arranged to escort three trucks, one each with ice, water and food, but was angered when a follow-up conversation with Jay Hall, who is over Emergency Management out of Beaumont and Captain Davis of the Department of Public Safety, let him know he should have been given more.
“I found out that they (Beaumont) had sent six trucks designated to go to Dayton,” said Stephens, “but after they got to Liberty, three of the trucks were dispatched elsewhere.”
“The dialogue between the city and the county emergency management coordinator got so bad that he told our police chief (Pete Douzat) that he (Branch) would no longer talk to anyone in Dayton other than him, meaning he no longer wanted to talk to the mayor or me,” said Douglas.
“When I finally got the three trucks to Dayton, Officers Doug O’Quinn and John Headrick of Dayton PD, officers of the DPS under Sgt James Davidson and some volunteers serviced over 1,000 cars in three-and-a-half hours,” said Stephens. “We had another ice truck pull into the parking lot at Wilson Jr. High and a lady drove up from the EOC saying she needed that truck elsewhere. I told her as a matter of fact, there the truck sat and there the truck was going to stay and after finding out about the three other trucks that were commandeered elsewhere, well let’s just say I’m glad I held onto it.”
The mayor went on to say that after all this is done and everything is back to normal, there is going to be a meeting of the minds so that this doesn’t happen the next time there is an emergency.
“We’re going to have a ‘come to Jesus meeting’ when this is all over,” said the mayor. “During Rita the mayors were included in the conference calls but this time we were told to stay out of it and leave everything to the emergency management coordinator, and well, you see where that got us.”
“I’ll tell you what,” stated Mayor Steve Stephens, “The City of Dayton is going to be looking at a different setup scenario for the next emergency. I am neither satisfied nor happy with the response on this one by our county’s emergency management coordinator, Tom Branch. Take the politics out of it and just respond to the need.”
The mayor’s major concern was over the fact that of the 75,000 people who live in the county, almost half live in the area served by the Dayton Independent School District, or approximately 35,000.
Cleveland, also dissatisfied with what they were getting wound up sending police to Lufkin to escort nine trucks of water, ice and food (MRE’s) in order to take care of their own and without going through the county.
“I think the city official from Cleveland who did that did the right thing and should be commended and told him so,” said State Rep. John Otto. “I also told them that should he get any flak over his actions to have them call me.”
Mayor Stephens, and for that matter, David Douglas, the city manager felt like the distribution of supplies by the county was being distributed disproportionately without regard to the population being served. Originally, the staging area for all supplies was to be Dayton High School and then Woodrow Wilson Jr. High, but the move was made to the old Wal-Mart parking lot in Liberty.
“We did that so that all the people seeing trucks pulling into Dayton wouldn’t be giving them a hard time,” said County Judge Phil Fitzgerald.
The judge made no reference as to what people might think seeing all the trucks pulling into Liberty.
Stephens, after some heated discussions with the EOC on the phone, took matters into his own hands on Wednesday when he went to Liberty and arranged to escort three trucks, one each with ice, water and food, but was angered when a follow-up conversation with Jay Hall, who is over Emergency Management out of Beaumont and Captain Davis of the Department of Public Safety, let him know he should have been given more.
“I found out that they (Beaumont) had sent six trucks designated to go to Dayton,” said Stephens, “but after they got to Liberty, three of the trucks were dispatched elsewhere.”
“The dialogue between the city and the county emergency management coordinator got so bad that he told our police chief (Pete Douzat) that he (Branch) would no longer talk to anyone in Dayton other than him, meaning he no longer wanted to talk to the mayor or me,” said Douglas.
“When I finally got the three trucks to Dayton, Officers Doug O’Quinn and John Headrick of Dayton PD, officers of the DPS under Sgt James Davidson and some volunteers serviced over 1,000 cars in three-and-a-half hours,” said Stephens. “We had another ice truck pull into the parking lot at Wilson Jr. High and a lady drove up from the EOC saying she needed that truck elsewhere. I told her as a matter of fact, there the truck sat and there the truck was going to stay and after finding out about the three other trucks that were commandeered elsewhere, well let’s just say I’m glad I held onto it.”
The mayor went on to say that after all this is done and everything is back to normal, there is going to be a meeting of the minds so that this doesn’t happen the next time there is an emergency.
“We’re going to have a ‘come to Jesus meeting’ when this is all over,” said the mayor. “During Rita the mayors were included in the conference calls but this time we were told to stay out of it and leave everything to the emergency management coordinator, and well, you see where that got us.”
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