Highlands Mayor Patrick Taylor hears a lot of criticism.
More than he would ever care to hear for sure.
Like most elected officials, Taylor is usually good about letting those remarks roll off his back. But during Thursday night’s board of commissioners meeting, Taylor had to take time to address a comment that was made about the town, its staff, and elected officials in the aftermath of the Christmas freeze event that left numerous homes and businesses flooded due to frozen pipes that ruptured.
“I want to segue and address something I received where a person made a comment about the ‘Incompetent Town of Highlands strikes again,’” Taylor said. “I realize we are open for criticism and that’s fine, but I have to take a moment and thank the town employees who worked diligently through the big freeze event, which was unlike anything we’ve had in the past 30-plus years.”
Taylor noted that one of the town’s staff members, who was using a handheld weather gauge recorded a temperature of negative nine degrees on the ridgeline where he was working. Highlands, and much of Western North Carolina, endured three straight days of sub-freezing temperatures following Christmas. Highs in the teens and lows below zero were common, with windchills reaching as low as negative 20 degrees.
The extreme cold led to power outages as demand for electricity spiked, and caused the forementioned pipe ruptures at multiple locations around town – including the Peggy Crosby Center and the Literacy and Learning Center.
“We had challenges, we had water issues, but our water system never went down and the customers whose pipes were clear had water service throughout,” Taylor said. “Our electric crews were dealing with electrical loads that we have never seen before. At one point the usage was so high they were worried if any more heaters kicked on we might crash the whole electric system and power would be out for everybody, but fortunately that didn’t happen.”
Taylor said that Highlands’ employees always come through in the toughest times.
“From the people at the water plant, to our electrical crews, to our IT people, law enforcement, firefighters, and our administrative staff who dealt with folks reporting utility issues, everyone did their best and we are thankful for that,” Taylor said. “Everyone is entitled to their opinion about the town’s response to weather events, but in talking with commissioner (Marc) Hehn, and town manager Josh Ward, we saw everyone’s effort and we want them to know that it was appreciated.”