City Council is busy. It’s moving forward following last month’s elections with a new mayor — and it’s working to hire a new city manager to replace Jason Gage.
Then last Tuesday, some of the worst weather since the 2007 ice storm hit, with reports that the National Weather Service confirmed 90 mile per hour winds and multiple tornadoes around the Ozarks. The topic dominated parts of last night’s Council meeting. Here’s Mayor Schrag and Interim City Manager Collin Quigley.
“We will now move to the City Manager report," Schrag said.
Quigley responded, “Good evening, Mayor, members of council, [we’ll now] provide you with an update on the storm response last week. The April 29 storm was one of the most destructive wind events in Springfield in recent memory. While no injuries or fatalities were reported during the storm, the impact to the City’s infrastructure, urban canopy, and utility services was significant.”
Quigley told Council the storm prompted 1,800 emergency 911 calls. It felled 1,200 trees inside city limits, with debris blocking 40 city roads. The police department worked 70 storm-related traffic incidents. The fire department took 51 emergency calls in the first 12 hours following last Tuesday’s weather. Over the weekend, the Yardwaste Recycling Center processed 2,000 brush customers cleaning up their properties, almost eight times the usual number for a springtime Saturday.
Officials say the city is very short on volunteers for cleanup. Those interested in volunteering should call the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management at 417-872-6720.
