Karen Gleason
U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales pledged his assistance Monday to local officials seeking relief for local home- and business owners recovering from the past week’s weather events.
Gonzales (R-San Antonio) and members of his staff helped hand out food during a Precinct 1 distribution event at the San Felipe Cemetery, then attended Monday morning’s emergency county commissioners court to speak to County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. and the county’s four commissioners.
Gonzales praised the community for working together in the face of the once-in-a-generation winter storms.
“I do want to give you all an update on a state level and on a federal level of what is happening. One, I was with the governor yesterday when he flew to San Antonio to distribute some water. There is going to be a strong push to make sure electricity bills don’t get out of hand, and another thing is to alleviate some of the plumbing regulations to help get plumbers out to the places they need to be,” Gonzales told the court.
(Photo by Karen Gleason)
“The final part is to make sure that this does not happen again,” he added.
Gonzales said the Texas delegation to the U.S. Congress “has been working in a bipartisan manner” and has asked President Joe Biden to designate all 254 counties in Texas as disaster areas.
“That will come into play later on as we’re trying to get resources,” Gonzales said.
He asked citizens to submit reports regarding “any issues they have” through a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) web site, which he said he would forward to the county judge for local dissemination.
“Please fill that out, because it will help in the argument that we need to be designated a disaster area,” Gonzales said.
The congressman said he was here to help and urged local officials to contact him with any issues that might arise.
Gonzales during his visit here also met with Laughlin Air Force Base officials.
