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City Council Meeting January 8, 2001 Page 15 City Manager Malone said on January 5t", the water and sewer crews attacked a 24 inch water line break on Clement Road and put in 26 hours on this break. Also on January 7t" there was a 16 inch water line break on Clarksville and Collegiate Street. James Blanton, Manager of TXU Paris District, came forward stating that they served the City of Paris, Clarksville, Commerce, and Sulphur Springs with service to approximately 20 to 25 thousand customers between Paris and Clarksville. Of those 25 thousand customers, at one point in time, they had 20 thousand out of service due to the ice storm. Mr. Blanton said they lost all of the substations in the City of Clarksville and they also lost three substations serving the City of Paris and 85 to 90 percent of breakers were lost. He said they were struggling to keep the power on that serves the water supply to Paris. Mr. Blanton said part of the reason it is so hard and that it takes so long in an ice storm to restore power is that our crews are out there and they go through the line and find a wire down and they get the wire back up and will get the breaker back on at the substation. While they are picking up more wire somewhere else and a tree falls back behind them and knocks the circuit back out again. Mr. Blanton said for the first 48 hours they were spinning their wheels. One problem was the complication of the continued freezing rain. Mr. Blanton advised the City Council that he is putting together a presentation that he can give to some of the organizations in the cities to show the citizens how the City of Paris is actually served and how the grid is setup to serve the city. He also said his presentation would show the process they went though to restore power and why it took them so long to restore power in some situations. Mr. Blanton said they also lost all forms of communication other than their radios. Mr. Blanton said TXU maintains a priority listfor power restoration which identifies communications, public watersupply, and hospitals along with customers identified as having breathing machines as being the top priority for repair. He also said that he and the city staff would be meeting to review any priorities that the city might have to ensure that city needs were met as soon as possible. Mr. Blanton explained their plan for trimming trees, which is trimming them for a five year growth, trying to get all the trees out that they can. In response to a question asked by Councilman McCarthy, Mr. Blanton explained that once a storm costs the company over one-half million dollars in expenses there is insurance that will cover the cost from the storm, so the customers will not be affected. Mr. Blanton said he can not say enough about the Police Department and