By Cheryl Dowden, February 17, 2021

Important Updates

The POA is asking people to please stay home. Conditions are dangerous, and those who drive and then get stuck in the middle or on the side of the road are making it much more difficult for the road clearing crews. When people do this, they are putting their own lives at risk and the lives of the rescue workers and road crews.

Underneath the snow, there is a thin layer of ice, making travel conditions very dangerous.

All the staff, including executives and supervisors, are pulling together in this emergency. The POA is providing transportation to work for those essential staff who are not able to drive.

The plows are clearing the roads as quickly as they can. Up to this point, crews have been working around the clock. Because it is again snowing, the crews have temporarily postponed road clearing efforts. Today, workers are taking the opportunity while it is still snowing to clean up the equipment. The plowing will resume when the snow stops falling. According to Manager Todd Noles, “it doesn’t make a lot of sense to clear a road while it is still snowing. You reach the end of the road, and it needs to be plowed again.”

Director of Public Services, JasonTemple reported, “We have a plan to knock the roads out on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. [February 18-20]

People will need to remain in their houses for a couple more days, according to Interim General Manager John Paul.

Walking down the Middle of Roads is Dangerous

There have been numerous reports of people walking down the middle of DeSoto, Cortez, and other main roadways. This is very dangerous, and if you do this, you could easily be hit by an oncoming vehicle or cause the vehicle to slide off the road. The snowplows and other traffic on the roads cannot stop on a dime. If drivers encounter people walking in the roadways, they could easily hit the pedestrians or slide off the road.

HSVPOA is Down One Plow and Several Workers

Currently, we are down one plow and numerous workers. A tractor slid off the road and is lying on its side. Due to dangerous conditions, it is not known exactly when the plow can be recovered. Recovery will happen when conditions improve. The good news is that the plow driver was not injured, and that is the important thing.

There are some employees off of work due to COVID-19. We wish them a fast and full recouperation.

DeSoto Club, Designs Group Consulting and Brookshires Feeds Essential Emergency Workers

The DeSoto Club provided meals for the work crews with Food and Beverage Manager Bryan Garrett and Human Resources Manager Kim Massey, cooking and serving. Dannet Botkin of Designs Group Consulting and Brookshire’s grocery generously donated the food for these meals.

Conservation of Energy

Jason Temple said that Entergy considered having rolling blackouts for the village. Luckily this was not necessary. Temple said, “We have good communication with the power companies.”

Please do your best to conserve energy, so hopefully, we will not have to experience rolling blackouts. These are the recommendations:

“Please do your part to conserve electricity during this period of high demand:

• Keep your thermostat at 68 degrees or lower,
• Don’t allow warm air to escape from your house,
• Delay non-essential uses of electricity, such as running dishwashers, dryers, and washing machines, and
• If you must do laundry, wash clothes in cold water, and cook foods at the lowest possible setting.”

Other Information

A water pipe at the Fitness Center burst, and POA staff is working on the repair and cleanup. Be sure to click on the “Active Advisory” button on the Explore the Village website. Click here to visit the POA website.

Thank you to HSVPOA Staff and Responders for the great job you are doing!

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