June 20, 2023 • 41 mins
- Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick and Jefferson County Emergency Management Coordinator Robert Grimm talk about all the amazing industrial projects coming to Southeast Texas. Plus, they explain how to prepare of the hurricane season.
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(00:00):
Hey, everybody, it's your boy, Gary Lavox of Rascal Flats Beaumont.
I made a lot of friends thereon the road. And what are my
friends that you need to meet,especially if you're selling your home is Dana
Simmons of Dana Simmons Realty. Herteam is the real deal, top shelf,
next level, and she makes itso easy, and I like easy,
and remember sell your home on GodHesitate, Simmon, last Realistate.
(00:31):
Well, Hello Southeast Texas. It'sso good to be back. Last week,
Andy Hemmings took my place because Ihad a little bit of a cough
and I didn't think it would workwell to have you listening to my coughing
spells. So Andy Hemmings with capitaltitle, did an amazing job filling in
and handling the show. But I'mso glad to be back today. I
(00:54):
have some amazing guests joining me today. We have Jefferson County Judge Jeff Brannick,
who's going to be on the show, and also the Jefferson County Emergency
Management Coordinator, Robert Grimm. Wehave lots to talk about a little bit
about what's going on in Southeast Texaseconomically, and then you know, this
weather this last weekn really kind ofgave us a prep for the next several
(01:19):
months of hurricane season. So we'regoing to talk a little bit about how
do we prepare, how did thatimpact us even just last weekend, and
what are some things we can doto make sure that we are prepared for
what's coming in the next several months. We've had several hurricanes here in Southeast
Texas. Things have gone well,but how can we do better? That's
one of the things we definitely wantto mention today. But before we do
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that, I want to give youa little bit of a snapshot of what's
going on in the market. Youknow, in Southeast Texas, we have
seen a great difference from last yearat this time and this year at this
time, and the factor that impactedus the most, of course is interest
rate. When the interest rates startedgoing up, that really began to soften
(02:05):
the market for buyers. But weare seeing a few positives from that.
So one of the things that's reallyimproving is our months of inventory and our
inventory out there for the buyers.What we saw last year this time was
that our inventory was much lower.It was a challenge for those buyers who
wanted to buy a house to findone, to not have to compete because
(02:30):
we were competing on so many atthat point in time, and to be
able to purchase a home was morechallenging, I'll tell you. With the
interest rate increase, we have seenthe inventory increase. Our number of offers
on properties has gone down. We'renot seeing as many, you know,
ten eleven, twelve thirteen offers onone property. We are in some price
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ranges still seeing where we're getting multipleoffers, but that typically is going to
be in your three hundred thousand dollarsprice range. So what does it look
like exactly from the stats. Soif we look at last year, the
compiled data that we have really isfor April at this point. So the
compiled data from April twenty twenty twoshows that we had a total of three
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hundred and eighty eight closed properties andour average sales price was about two hundred
and fifty thousand. Well April oftwenty twenty three, we see a little
bit of a reduction, not asmuch as you would think. We have
three hundred and fifty two closed transactions, but what we have seen is the
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average sales price go down. Theaverage sales price is about two hundred and
thirty thousand, so you can seeit's a little bit close to about a
ten percent reduction in our average salesprice. And so you say, Dana,
what is contributing to that, Well, what's contributing is we are seeing
fewer houses in the upper price rangecell. For instance, in April of
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twenty twenty two, over five hundredthousand, we saw twenty five closed cells
with one hundred and fourteen total activelistings. That wasn't a bad number of
months of inventory, that was abouta four month inventory. But what we're
seeing now in that five hundred thousandor more is only fourteen closed properties with
(04:24):
one hundred and seventy three active listings. So there you're seeing well over a
year, year and a half worthof inventory. So as the market is
starting to level out on inventory,we are starting to see prices to begin
to do the same thing. Soif you're in the market to buy,
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my recommendation is that you speak withyour lender, see what you're pre approved
for, and then give us acall. I want to show you what
is the market in your price rangelooking like, so we can give you
that information and let you know,what is it like for you specifically,
so also what's happening in our areathat's improving some of those stats. I'll
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tell you we don't have the Maynumbers yet, but I can tell you
May and then really, starting inJune first, our phones started ringing a
lot more. I feel like we'regoing to see the market start to even
out a little better. The benefitis that we have those months of inventory.
The other benefit is we have somuch coming to Southeast Texas that's going
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to improve our market here. Andthat's one of the reasons I have Judge
Jeff Brannick here because Jeff, that'sone of the things that we're going to
talk about in our next segment,is that we have lots of things industry
moving to Southeast Texas. But beforewe get to that, I love for
people. If someone doesn't know you, I don't know how, but I'd
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love for you to tell everyone alittle bit about you. You've been here
forever, grew up in the MidCounty South County area. Talk a little
bit about that. Yeah, themorning raised in Port Arthur and living Port
Nacious Now. The only time Ileft with during the three years and I
went off to law school at Baylorin Waco. And you know, I
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had people that wanted to interview withme when I was a student in Bay
of Law school from Dallas in Houston, and I told him, it doesn't
matter whether I'm digging ditches at therefinery, I'm going back to Jefferson County
because I loved growing up here.You know, I spent my time in
the marshes fishing and hunting and wasin love with the people here and I
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couldn't envision myself living in a bigcity. So you know, I've had
a lifelong love affair with this area, and you know, practice law for
twenty five plus years here and thenthat's happened. Stance would have it.
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I ended up that the county beingan attorney to the county judge, and
as soon as he left, becomingcounty judge in twenty ten. And it's
been a really fulfilling experience for mebecause everything's so varied. My duties are
still varied. They're judicial, they'reexecutive, they're administrative, their emergency management
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related and so and we've had quitea few challenges over the last several years
with major storms that and explosions andfreezes and things of that nature that have
been pretty challenging. But you know, at least I haven't been bored.
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Listen, Um, I can't imagineanyone else better suited to do what you
do. I can't imagine anyone elsewho would have handled all that you've handled
better than you have. And Iknow there may be people who are fussing
about one little thing or another littlething, but I'm going to tell you
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you're always going to have someone nothappy because they don't know the whole story,
and that's the challenge. But I'msuch a fan. I'll have to
say that because of your passion andlove for our area that I feel like
you reflect that and every single thingyou do for our county, and I
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see it coming out in the decisionsyou make. It's not a selfless,
selfish decision. It's always a selflessdecision what's best for the county. And
so I really appreciate you being heretoday because I just think that you have
a great insight into our area becauseyou were born and raised here and now
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working through all of the things thatwe've been through. So thank you so
much for willingness, and so areexcited to also have with us the emergency
manager management coordinator, which is RobertGraham. And so Robert, I know
you just you've been in that departmentfor a long time, but just took
this position over in January, right, Yes, that's correct. So talk
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a little bit about how you cameto this position. Well, go back
to two thousand and two. I'vebeen here since two thousand and two.
I retired from the Army in twothousand and seven, worked at the Regional
Planning Commission for a few years thedeputy Emergency management position. When Jeffersonani came
open in two thou eighteen, Iapplied. Was fortunate enough that the judge
had some hired me, hired mefor that position. I worked with Mike
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through Amelda COVID nineteen response to TPCexplosion, and fortunate enough that in January
the judge appointed me as the emergencymanagement coordinator for Jefferson County. Well,
we're so glad to have you,and first let me say thank you for
your service. What a great trainingyou received just in at and preparing you
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for what you're doing now, andso thank you so much for your response.
We've seen how your department has respondedso well to so much that has
happened here in Southeast Texas. Sowe're looking forward to visiting more here in
one of our next segments about howwe can be prepared for some of that.
Sometimes things happen and we can't beprepared. That explosion just happened,
but I'm sure you guys already hadthings in place. But for those of
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us who are citizens, there arethings we can actively do to be prepared
for what's coming in hurricane season.So you guys do not want to go
away, You're going to want tocome back. This is Dana Simmons with
the Dana Simmonship. Welcome back.This is Dana Simmons with the Dana Simmons
Show. And I have with metoday Jefferson County Judge Jeff Brannick and also
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the Jefferson County Emergency Management Coordinator,Robert Graham. We're going to get started
with Jeff to talk about some ofthe things that we have locally coming to
Southeast Texas. Now. We haveso much industry and growth that's going to
happen and the next up to fiveyears, Jeff, which I think is
going to help impact our real estatemarket in a very positive way. I
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know. Right now, what we'reseeing is a lot of people who are
here for temporary housing. But asthat those developments go, we're going to
see more long term people who aregoing to stay here. Right Talk a
little bit about what you see coming. Well, it's such a juxtaposition sent
from the nineteen eighties. You know, in the nineteen eighties, we saw
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massive layoffs at the refineries, locallydifficulty finding employment. The county went out
and bought eleven hundred acres to giftto the states so that they could build
prison to create correctional officer jobs here, which is what ended up with the
Styles Unit, lablaw Unit Injection Countyalong with the federal prison. And then
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you fast forward to the mid twothousand and five time frame when Motiva and
Total did pretty substantial expansion projects thatwe're in the multibillion dollars range and we
thought, you know, it justcouldn't get any better than this. And
then you know, for the lastten years, one of the things that's
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made my jobs, County Judge easier. We have seen an industrial expansion the
likes of which we haven't seen sincethe spendle top ailboom. We have about
sixty five billion dollars worth of newindustrial infrastructure expansions in a variety of industries.
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Started out with Golden Past Legs andSHANEI l G with you know,
ten plus billion dollars expansions in thearea and seventy Even though Shaneia is across
the waterway in Louisiana, about seventypercent of the working population there is from
Texas because it's much closer to JeffersonCounty in Orange County than it is to
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Cameron Parish. Now we have Portauthor El and g Simper Energy fixing to
expand on eleven billion dollar plan onthree thousand acres they have on Highway eighty
seven in Port Arthur. We've gotmajor expansions going on at the Vlaire over
a finery with Diamond Green diesel productproject which takes animal fats and rend drinks
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from slaughterhouses and turns it into ultralsoftware diesel products and jet fuel. Now
there's another expansion that's been announced forthe project that will make jet fuel there.
We have had major expansions recently atx on Mobile with the Blade projects.
So you know, in Jefferson Countywe're now at the point where we
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make about ten percent of the dieselfuel in the United States, about fourteen
percent of the castolne, fifty percentof the commerce aviation fuel, seventy eight
percent of the military aviation fuel.We've got the number one military offload port
in the United States. Our waterwayEgyptian of the Sabine Nature's Waterway is the
third largest port in the United Statesby tonnage. So we've got the number
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one military offload port in the UnitedStates. Over sixty percent of the nation's
strategic petroleum reserves offload on our waterway. And with the opening of the new
LNG facilities, we're gonna see aboutsix hundred and fifty ships a year added
to the waterway. So the Sabinepilots who navigate the ships in from the
outer banks into the ports have hadto add forty three new pilot positions.
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And you know, we'll probably moveup to the second largest port in the
United States behind Houston Galveston. We'reto the number one crew to export in
the United States, where the numberone LG exporter in the United States globally,
and you know, we've seen hugeexpansions at Phillip sixty six Energies Transfer
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Partners at OCI, and in addition, we're seeing a lot of blue and
green energy projects. We've got ArborRenewables, which is going to take some
of the cuttings that come off timberour timber resources to the northern counties Hardened,
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Jasper, Newton, Tyler Counties,and they're going to use those uh
cuttings that are left over after thewood is milled to turn it into gasoline
products that can be sold into Californiaand the European markets. We've got the
Blue Methanol project going on at OCI. We've got a new hydrogen plant with
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Lendy. These are all multi milliondollars projects. We've send some expansions down
by the old DuPont facility, andwe're gonna have a lot of expansions out
that are going to be beginning inthe western part of the county along the
Iten corridor. Some pretty heavy realestate investment by industrial companies in that area.
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And so you know, with thecalculations of the forecasts are that we're
about forty nine thousand workers short ofwhat we need for all the upcoming projects.
But we're very fortunate in southeast Texasnumber one to have Dade Feeling as
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our Speaker of the House because we'regetting some resources for educational institutions that we
really need for work forward preparedness.But we're blessed to have Lamar University l
I, Lamar State College, PortArthur, Lamar State College, Orange and
those people are very nimble in theirsolution orient and responding the needs that we
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have in our community, creating programsthat will train up operators, that will
train up, you know, thepeople that we need do the job that
frankly pay a lot more than thecounty judge's job. Dot. You know,
so I went off and spent fouryears in undergraduate school and three years
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in law school where I probably couldhave gone to l IT for two years
and ended it up making more moneythan I am as county judge. So
it's a lot of wonderful opportunities outthere, it is, and I think
the challenges you know, when youlive here and you've been here, you
don't recognize and you take for grantedall that we have here. I mean,
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all of the resources that you saidat number one kudos, how do
you remember all of that? That'sa lot. But there's so much.
And like you said, that doesn'tinclude the things that are coming to Orange
County as well that are going tobenefit us in Jefferson County too. So
what we have here is a hugeblessing which impacts our real estate market in
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a positive way and such that wedon't see the huge increases that most areas
see, but we don't see thehuge decreases. And so for me,
I am so happy was slow andsteady because it gets the job done.
I mean, increasing values by sixpercent annually, while some people go,
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oh man, over in the WestCoast, they increased by twenty percent annually.
Yeah, but what goes up mustcome down, right, And so
having our slow and steady win therace, I think helps us and protects
us here in Southeast Texas for someof those huge drops that other areas see.
So if you're listening to the nationalnews about real estate, you should
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really get with your local real estateagent and be able to get exactly what's
going on. When I gave youthat data between last year to this year,
and yes, we saw a slightdepth, but it was less than
ten percent, And so what we'reseeing is a little bit of a reduction,
but we're not at the same pacethat other people throughout the entire nation
or seeing, which has got tobe helpful for people when they decide whether
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or not to come to Southeast Texas, because our affordability is much better.
Yeah, we've had a stability,you know. I always tell everybody objectively,
you'd find you'd be hard pressed tofind a better place to live in
Southeast Texas. We've got the PantyWoods to the north, the Gulf of
Mexico to the south. We haveabundance of good paying jobs. We have
wonderful educational institutions that are here,you know, outdoor recreational opportunities, reasonably
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priced housing, reasonably fast food.We have. As much as everybody hates,
property taxes, out of the twohundred and fifty four counties in the
state of Texas, we have theninth lowest tax rate out of all those
two hundred and fifty four counties.And that's because about sixty eight percent of
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the cost of government through your advaloremyour property taxes, is paid by industry.
So being in an industrialized area,I mean, I think in many
ways where the envy of a lotof my county judge friends who would love
to have the tax base that wehave, absolutely, And I know when
you talk to those county judge friends, they also talk about when they are
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talking economic development, what's coming totheir area. They're excited when things come
in the millions. You know,oh, we've got so many millions.
And then when we say, oh, okay, well there's billions. I
mean, it's hard for my mindto even grasp that billions of dollars of
industry coming here. Wow, that'sjust we're doing something right here, really
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are. I will admit to havebecoming somewhat spoiled. But you know,
in the early two thousands or thenineties, you know, one hundred million
dollar project would have been a hugedeal. Right, And now I'm spoiled.
I know, that's what I wassaying. We have, We've gotten
truly spoiled. But what a blessingto live here in this time, in
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this season, and just like yousaid, to have the leadership we have
in place to facilitate it and helpus and grow us even to a better
position. So I'm truly excited aboutthat. I want to come back here
in just a little bit. We'regoing to talk more about what's going on
in our emergency management position. ButI want to thank you for the good
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news, and I think the peopleof Southeast Texas need to hear that there's
so much good news going on herein Southeast Texas and we want to applaud
that and be excited about it andsee how we can participate in making it
better. When we come back,we're going to talk more with Jefferson County
Judge Jeff Brannick and the Emergency ManagementCoordinator, Robert Grimm. So don't go
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away. This is welcome back.This is Dana Simmons and I have on
the show with me Jefferson County JudgeJeff Brannick, and our emergency management coordinator,
Robert Grimm. Let me tell you, if you miss that last segment
about what's going on in Southeast Texas, you really are going to have to
go back to the podcast and listento it. Judge Branneck gave us an
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incredible high view of all that's comingto Southeast Texas and the wonderful pieces that
they're putting together to continue to growSoutheast Texas in such a way that we
can continue to be prosperous, andit's amazing. I am just in awe
of all that he just gave tous. But we want to move now
into the segment that we'll connect somewhatwith those possible growth contingencies that we have
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going on, into our emergency managementposition. So you have been since January,
but even before that because you workedin that department then dealing with emergency
management situation. So I know specificallythis past weekend might have caught some of
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us off guard about being prepared fora big storm or right now we're in
a hurricane season, so even beingprepared for that. So from your perspective,
where do you think we are andwhat are some of the things that
we need to talk to the publicabout and what do we need to do?
I would say that we need toplan now, as the weekend has
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shown us that it can come upat any time. Having a plan now
on what you're going to do ata time of disaster as more beneficial than
you're trying to catch up with oneat the time of the disaster. So
we always talk to people about insurancepolicies. What is your plan if you
have to evacuate the area, Whatare about your pets, your small children?
Where are you going to go.So we always talk in that area
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about the disaster recovery. Yeah,being prepared. And one of the things
that I did pull was I pulledthe mission statement from your website and it
says that Jefferson County's Office of EmergencyManagement mission is to minimize loss of life
and personal injury, damage to propertyand the environment from disasters. We strive
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to accomplish this through a continuing programof outreach, coordination, planning, training,
and exercising for all hazards and forall four phases of emergency management,
which which is mitigation, preparedness,response, and recovery. I thought that
was pretty all inclusive, and youguys have handled all of those things here
in the last five six years oreven longer with Harvey and Emelda and the
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way we've had to navigate through thosestorms. But one of the things that
I loved about that website was itgave a lot of those resources for people
to be able to go online andget that information. So talk a little
bit about all of those things thatyou guys have on there. Well ready.
Dot co is one of the biggersites that we have that you can
go on and it'll show you whatkits. You need to have some of
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the items that you can put inthat to go kit and water, some
food, your prescription medicine, yourinsurance documentation that you have to have some
of the prescriptions that you may needlater on down the road that you can
fill from emergency contact information for thatindividual that's out there. Yeah, you
know, I personally have been througha few of these storms. I was
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in Rita, had to trees throughmy roof. So I'm a Rita roof
person who got a readA roof andthose are coming up due again. So
for those of you who have anew roof and Rita, expect that you
may need to be changing those soon. We have that coming up on when
we're selling a home that they're nolonger insurable. So we're going to talk
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about that in a different segment ina few weeks. But I've also been
in Harvey and Amelda flooded. Bothtimes had to be rescued, which was
super nice. Harvey, my inlaws were with us and so we needed
help, mostly because my father inlaw was in a wheelchair. But then
in Emelda that came up, likeyou said, be prepared Amelda for us
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came up overnight and when we wokeup in the morning, we were stuck.
There was no way out, andso thankfully Poored Author Fire and Rescue
in their little boat came and gotme and my husband and our four dogs.
So that was not a lot offun, but I was so thankful
to have our emergency response team thereready to help those who are there.
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So talk a little bit about someof the last storms and what you think
we can do better to be preparedfor this storm. I'll tell you one
thing is to leave when you're toldmy father in law is in a wheelchair
and I'm gonna throw my husband underthe bus. And during Harvey, He's
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like, this property, this househas been here when they built Interstate ten.
The ponds on our property were usedto build Interstate ten. We've been
told by every surveyor Interstate ten wouldhave to be underwater before we took on
water. We are absolutely fine here, and guess what, it was a
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very unique situation. But we werenot fine. And so instead of leaving,
he's like, it's easier with PapPaula just to stay here. But
I had a crop pot full ofroast, so we'd have plenty of food.
Then we ended up leaving there.But I think that's the key is
even if you think you're gonna befine, if people tell you to leave,
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you should leave. One of thethings that we find with each of
these storms, from Ike to Harvey, to Emelda and to the storm that
we had just the other day,is that each and every one of them
are different. We find that somepeople flooded in Harvey and didn't flood in
Amelda, and the same thing withAmelda. It may not have flooded during
Harvey, but because of the rainfalland where it was located at, they
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did flood during Emelda. So itis each storm and each and every one
of them are a different event.Like as we said, was a surge
event to where the floodwaters came upthat way, and then Harvey was a
rain event, and Emelda was arain event, but what we would alread
primarily a wind and vegetative debris event. So each of those are different storms
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that you have to take into consideration. You know, just because your area
says you're not in a flood zone, how many people flooded in the Malda
and Harvey, that we're not actuallyin the flood zone. So what we'd
like to make sure people know is, just like you said, if we
call for an evacuation, to evacuatethe area area as soon as possible during
and you know, we always saymandatory evacuations, but you can always leave
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any time that there's a storm outthere or getting closer into our area.
Absolutely, And I think that's agood point, is that getting out early
also helps in dealing with the trafficsituation. So talk a little bit about
how that is impacted in the emergencyresponse and what you guys do to make
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sure that there is a passage wayfor us to get out of the area
now on the traffic management plan thatis in effect. What I always tell
people when I do outreach programs tothe community is that during a mandatory evacuation,
you can travel east, west,north, or north and so.
But during a mandatory evacuation, theroutes are changed. The only way you
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can go from that point on isto the north. All evacuation routes go
that way. We have to takeinto consideration too, that even though Jefferson
County and some of the surrounding countiesmay not be as big, Harris County
is huge Galveston Countye is so ifthey're under the mandatory evacuation order two,
the roads are can be congested withall the individuals from Harris GA in Jefferson
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County, Orange County, Harden Countyevacuating north. So the sooner you can
get at, the faster it willbe to where you can get the points
north and out of the storm area. Yeah, and the less traffic you're
going to have to deal with,which is so much better. Yes,
Yeah, So for us, wetalked a little bit about in the break
the impact when we have a majorstorm here. One of the things that
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we had talked about is all thegrowth that we have in our area.
The judge talked about all that weproduce here that impacts the entire nation.
So talk a little bit about howthe storms and what happens here will impact
all of the United States really well, because we do produce so much of
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the refined products and petrochemicals in theUnited States. With the economic analysis that
was done immediately in the aftermath ofHarvey, which shut down our waterway and
for several days shut down many environmentrefineries and chemical plants, and the calculation
is done by the economists from thenortheast, where that the consumer at the
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pump spending an additional four point threebillion dollars because if you'll notice, if
they're a hurricane that hits a chargeof gasoline prices across the United States don't
vacillate a penny. If we gethit here in Houston or Jefferson County,
it's an immediate eight to ten centincrease. So that's where that four point
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three billion dollars came in. AndI would just mentioned that since we're talking
about evacuations that you know, I'malways extremely hesitant when you call for an
evacuation. There's four possible scenarios thatcan occur. You can call an evacuation.
The storm does come, you cancall it an evacuation. It doesn't
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come, you cannot call it.And a storm does come, you can
not call it, and the stormdoesn't come. And so you know,
two of those situations are bad.And even when you the storm does come
and a mandatory evacuation is in effect, I'm still very hesitant to call one.
And the reason is because that requiresall of our emergency management coordinators,
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both both Robert and the emergency managementcoordinators at the city to bring in to
play the two one one program.That is to go out and get the
people that are on oxygen and wheelchairs, and then the nursing homes have to
evacuate. And when they have toevacuate the stress of that evacuation kills a
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lot of those people. They cannothandle a twenty hour ride to Dallas in
bumper to bumper traffic, and youknow, and that's the last thing we
want to do. The other sideof that is if we call amandator,
where if we don't call it themandatory evacuation, and you know, three
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quarters of our population leaves and goesto Dallas, they're going to find that
without the mandatory evacuation order, theirhome insurance policy is not going to pay
the additional living expense benefits. Soit's really darned if you do darned if
you don't situation, and it's anextremely difficult decision to make one that I
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will often have conversations either in personor on conference call with all the area
of mayors and so it's a youknow, it's a difficult situation. But
if we've called one, then yeah, we feel that the factors and circumstances
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what we're hearing from the National Hurricanesin a National Weather Service, Greg Bostwick,
are all things that we need toget people out. Even though I
think that since Rita in two thousandand five, you know, we built
back according to new building codes inthe state. I think our homes are
(34:19):
more resilient. We've seen less andless property damage through every storm, and
that's because people have built back anda higher quality, a higher standard that
has protected their home from getting thetype of damage that we saw in Rita
in two thousand and five. Right, And I can't imagine having the pressure
(34:43):
and the weight of making that decisionbecause, like you said, the challenge
of my daughter during Harvey was thedirector of rehabit and nursing facility, and
when they lost all power to thatfacility and they not yet evacuated, it
was a challenge for a week.It was very hard. She stayed there
(35:07):
with no electricity and no way toget out. She couldn't get back to
Beaumont. And so so I can'timagine having to think about all those pieces
because it's not like we have aguarantee that yes, the storm's coming or
no, the storm's not coming.And so trying to predict that. Wow,
I can't even imagine what has togo through your mind before you make
(35:31):
those decisions. So I would hopethat all of us in Southeast Texas would
be cognizant of how challenging that isand not jump to conclusions one way or
the other when it doesn't work out, because honestly, it's just like the
weather. I mean, many timesthey can't predict it, and so you're
(35:52):
relying on a lot of that theweather is going to do what the weather
is going to do, and it'sgoing to change at a drop of a
hat. So I appreciate all thatyou put into trying to make that very
precise, and I can't imagine.So I'm gonna give you a little more
grace from now on. Jeff,I'm saying, we have so enjoyed this
(36:14):
segment. We're going to come backhere in a bit at bit and just
wrap up talking with Judge Jeff Brannickand also Robert Grimm, the emergency Management
coordinator. I hope you've enjoyed this, and if you are having any questions
about what they've talked about, don'thesitate to reach out to my office and
we'll try to get those questions answeredfor you. You can go to our
(36:37):
website DSRE dot com and be ableto fill out some information there as well.
When we come back, we'll wrapup the show and give you a
little additional information. This is DanaSimmons with the Dana Simmons Show for head
Dorian Orange. Welcome back. Thisis Dana Simmons and I have joining me
today Jefferson County Judge Jeff Brannick andour emergency management coordinator, Robert Grimm.
(36:59):
And we been talking about a lotof things in the county, how things
are going well, all the expansionsand what's coming to Southeast Texas, but
also trying to get prepared for thehurricane season and what we need to know.
So Robert, I'd love for youto kind of give a synopsis of
what is it that people need toknow and how do they need to be
prepared if we have a storm startto come this way. Well, one
(37:22):
of the first things that we talkedabout earlier was the insurance. I would
call up your agent, make surethat you have adequate insurance on your house.
Make sure that it is insured forthe full price that it will be
covered in a storm and a hurricane, tornado, or whatever natural disaster that
we have coming to us. Alsolooking at flood inshorts. I'm not sure
if most people understand it takes atleast thirty days to start that insurance policy.
(37:45):
So if you want it, it'sgoing to take thirty days from the
date that you initiate it for itto take effects. So not to wait
to where we're seeing a storm insidethe Gulf that's heading towards Jefferson County to
try to call your agent to getthat flood insurance. It's way too late
there going to write it there.Yes, so today, if you did
it today, you wouldn't get thisuntil July thirteenth. It would be that
thirty day waiting period. So Iwould suggest or strongly urge everyone in the
(38:08):
county to look at what the costis for flood insurance and to get it.
Absolutely, I agree with you.And as we've seen, the last
two storms that we had were bothflood events. Yes, so having that
in place is going to be critical. So what are some other things that
you think we need to make surethat we have in place and ready to
go? Make sure you have yourevacuation plan. Where are you going to
(38:30):
go, what are you going todo with your pets? And again we
talked about the medicines that we can'tstress that enough about making sure that you
have an adequate supply of your medicationsthat are needed during an evacuation, so
when you get to wherever you're goingyour destination, you already have enough to
last you for a period of time. I love that you mentioned pets and
(38:51):
neds because both of those are criticallyimportant. You need to make sure where
you're going that you can take yourpets. And please don't leave your pets
at home. It could be Imean, I know Hurricane Rita, it
was a while before we could getback into town because there was so much
infrastructure that wasn't up and running again, so it was like two weeks that
(39:12):
we were out of town. Don'tleave your pets. It's really not the
job of our first responders to goget your pets. Take your pets with
you. Find a place that hasan opportunity to receive those pets, which
there are hotels that will accept thatalso airbnbs, and so use it as
a little staycation. As some peoplesay, I mean no herrication. That's
(39:37):
what we call it a Hurricacian tobe able to get out of town,
enjoy a few days to relax andnot have to worry about what might happen
here, so we're prepared. Ialso think one of the things that was
important for us is to have plentyof water in the vehicle, snacks in
the vehicle, because as you geton the road it can be challenging to
(40:00):
find those things because everyone else isstopping for those things too. So I
included lots of drinks and snacks formy kids and family so that as we're
going we had had those with usand didn't have to worry about if somewhere
else didn't have those anything else thatyou want to make sure that we get
out there to the public well,and to touch on your point about the
(40:22):
water and the snacks and everything youneed to plan for that now too.
Everybody else is going to have thesame idea. Once the storm starts to
turn or come into Jefferson County,everybody's going to run to hub, Walmart,
Kroger and by all the water,all the snacks, all that is
going to be gone. So weasked that you prepare prior to the storm,
before the season starts right now.Is a great time to go out
(40:43):
there and purchase what you need tohave at least the two weeks apply of
water, some snacks, and everythingon there for your trip. That you're
going to go to the evacuation center. Absolutely, even if you need to
have a lot closet away from yourkids, Yes, you're going to.
You're considering contemplating building a home,make sure that the base floor of the
(41:04):
home is well above base flood elevation. I'd even consider if I were building
a home going higher than what thecity and county rules require for the flood
zoned and maybe using a little bitmore dirt. I absolutely agree. Well,
what a pleasure it has been tohave both of you on the show.
Thank you so much for educating ourpublic, letting each of us know
(41:28):
exactly what we need to do tobe prepared, and for giving us such
great leadership in the positions that youhold. I am so excited to have
had this opportunity. If you missedany part of it, you can go
back next week. This will beon the podcast at the KOVII website,
so you can listen again to getall of that great information. But for
(41:49):
now, this is Dana Simmons withThe Dana Simmons Show. Have a great weekend.
Hey, everybody, it's your boy, Gary Lavox of Rascal Flats Beaumont.
I made a lot of friends thereon the road. And what are my
friends that you need to meet,especially if you're selling your home is Dana
Simmons of Dana Simmons Realty. Herteam is the real deal, top shelf,
next level, and she makes itso easy, and I like easy,
and remember sell your home on GodHesitate, Simmon, last Realistate.
(00:31):
Well, Hello Southeast Texas. It'sso good to be back. Last week,
Andy Hemmings took my place because Ihad a little bit of a cough
and I didn't think it would workwell to have you listening to my coughing
spells. So Andy Hemmings with capitaltitle, did an amazing job filling in
and handling the show. But I'mso glad to be back today. I
(00:54):
have some amazing guests joining me today. We have Jefferson County Judge Jeff Brannick,
who's going to be on the show, and also the Jefferson County Emergency
Management Coordinator, Robert Grimm. Wehave lots to talk about a little bit
about what's going on in Southeast Texaseconomically, and then you know, this
weather this last weekn really kind ofgave us a prep for the next several
(01:19):
months of hurricane season. So we'regoing to talk a little bit about how
do we prepare, how did thatimpact us even just last weekend, and
what are some things we can doto make sure that we are prepared for
what's coming in the next several months. We've had several hurricanes here in Southeast
Texas. Things have gone well,but how can we do better? That's
one of the things we definitely wantto mention today. But before we do
(01:42):
that, I want to give youa little bit of a snapshot of what's
going on in the market. Youknow, in Southeast Texas, we have
seen a great difference from last yearat this time and this year at this
time, and the factor that impactedus the most, of course is interest
rate. When the interest rates startedgoing up, that really began to soften
(02:05):
the market for buyers. But weare seeing a few positives from that.
So one of the things that's reallyimproving is our months of inventory and our
inventory out there for the buyers.What we saw last year this time was
that our inventory was much lower.It was a challenge for those buyers who
wanted to buy a house to findone, to not have to compete because
(02:30):
we were competing on so many atthat point in time, and to be
able to purchase a home was morechallenging, I'll tell you. With the
interest rate increase, we have seenthe inventory increase. Our number of offers
on properties has gone down. We'renot seeing as many, you know,
ten eleven, twelve thirteen offers onone property. We are in some price
(02:53):
ranges still seeing where we're getting multipleoffers, but that typically is going to
be in your three hundred thousand dollarsprice range. So what does it look
like exactly from the stats. Soif we look at last year, the
compiled data that we have really isfor April at this point. So the
compiled data from April twenty twenty twoshows that we had a total of three
(03:16):
hundred and eighty eight closed properties andour average sales price was about two hundred
and fifty thousand. Well April oftwenty twenty three, we see a little
bit of a reduction, not asmuch as you would think. We have
three hundred and fifty two closed transactions, but what we have seen is the
(03:38):
average sales price go down. Theaverage sales price is about two hundred and
thirty thousand, so you can seeit's a little bit close to about a
ten percent reduction in our average salesprice. And so you say, Dana,
what is contributing to that, Well, what's contributing is we are seeing
fewer houses in the upper price rangecell. For instance, in April of
(04:01):
twenty twenty two, over five hundredthousand, we saw twenty five closed cells
with one hundred and fourteen total activelistings. That wasn't a bad number of
months of inventory, that was abouta four month inventory. But what we're
seeing now in that five hundred thousandor more is only fourteen closed properties with
(04:24):
one hundred and seventy three active listings. So there you're seeing well over a
year, year and a half worthof inventory. So as the market is
starting to level out on inventory,we are starting to see prices to begin
to do the same thing. Soif you're in the market to buy,
(04:46):
my recommendation is that you speak withyour lender, see what you're pre approved
for, and then give us acall. I want to show you what
is the market in your price rangelooking like, so we can give you
that information and let you know,what is it like for you specifically,
so also what's happening in our areathat's improving some of those stats. I'll
(05:09):
tell you we don't have the Maynumbers yet, but I can tell you
May and then really, starting inJune first, our phones started ringing a
lot more. I feel like we'regoing to see the market start to even
out a little better. The benefitis that we have those months of inventory.
The other benefit is we have somuch coming to Southeast Texas that's going
(05:30):
to improve our market here. Andthat's one of the reasons I have Judge
Jeff Brannick here because Jeff, that'sone of the things that we're going to
talk about in our next segment,is that we have lots of things industry
moving to Southeast Texas. But beforewe get to that, I love for
people. If someone doesn't know you, I don't know how, but I'd
(05:53):
love for you to tell everyone alittle bit about you. You've been here
forever, grew up in the MidCounty South County area. Talk a little
bit about that. Yeah, themorning raised in Port Arthur and living Port
Nacious Now. The only time Ileft with during the three years and I
went off to law school at Baylorin Waco. And you know, I
(06:15):
had people that wanted to interview withme when I was a student in Bay
of Law school from Dallas in Houston, and I told him, it doesn't
matter whether I'm digging ditches at therefinery, I'm going back to Jefferson County
because I loved growing up here.You know, I spent my time in
the marshes fishing and hunting and wasin love with the people here and I
(06:38):
couldn't envision myself living in a bigcity. So you know, I've had
a lifelong love affair with this area, and you know, practice law for
twenty five plus years here and thenthat's happened. Stance would have it.
(06:59):
I ended up that the county beingan attorney to the county judge, and
as soon as he left, becomingcounty judge in twenty ten. And it's
been a really fulfilling experience for mebecause everything's so varied. My duties are
still varied. They're judicial, they'reexecutive, they're administrative, their emergency management
(07:25):
related and so and we've had quitea few challenges over the last several years
with major storms that and explosions andfreezes and things of that nature that have
been pretty challenging. But you know, at least I haven't been bored.
(07:48):
Listen, Um, I can't imagineanyone else better suited to do what you
do. I can't imagine anyone elsewho would have handled all that you've handled
better than you have. And Iknow there may be people who are fussing
about one little thing or another littlething, but I'm going to tell you
(08:09):
you're always going to have someone nothappy because they don't know the whole story,
and that's the challenge. But I'msuch a fan. I'll have to
say that because of your passion andlove for our area that I feel like
you reflect that and every single thingyou do for our county, and I
(08:31):
see it coming out in the decisionsyou make. It's not a selfless,
selfish decision. It's always a selflessdecision what's best for the county. And
so I really appreciate you being heretoday because I just think that you have
a great insight into our area becauseyou were born and raised here and now
(08:52):
working through all of the things thatwe've been through. So thank you so
much for willingness, and so areexcited to also have with us the emergency
manager management coordinator, which is RobertGraham. And so Robert, I know
you just you've been in that departmentfor a long time, but just took
this position over in January, right, Yes, that's correct. So talk
(09:16):
a little bit about how you cameto this position. Well, go back
to two thousand and two. I'vebeen here since two thousand and two.
I retired from the Army in twothousand and seven, worked at the Regional
Planning Commission for a few years thedeputy Emergency management position. When Jeffersonani came
open in two thou eighteen, Iapplied. Was fortunate enough that the judge
had some hired me, hired mefor that position. I worked with Mike
(09:39):
through Amelda COVID nineteen response to TPCexplosion, and fortunate enough that in January
the judge appointed me as the emergencymanagement coordinator for Jefferson County. Well,
we're so glad to have you,and first let me say thank you for
your service. What a great trainingyou received just in at and preparing you
(10:01):
for what you're doing now, andso thank you so much for your response.
We've seen how your department has respondedso well to so much that has
happened here in Southeast Texas. Sowe're looking forward to visiting more here in
one of our next segments about howwe can be prepared for some of that.
Sometimes things happen and we can't beprepared. That explosion just happened,
but I'm sure you guys already hadthings in place. But for those of
(10:24):
us who are citizens, there arethings we can actively do to be prepared
for what's coming in hurricane season.So you guys do not want to go
away, You're going to want tocome back. This is Dana Simmons with
the Dana Simmonship. Welcome back.This is Dana Simmons with the Dana Simmons
Show. And I have with metoday Jefferson County Judge Jeff Brannick and also
(10:46):
the Jefferson County Emergency Management Coordinator,Robert Graham. We're going to get started
with Jeff to talk about some ofthe things that we have locally coming to
Southeast Texas. Now. We haveso much industry and growth that's going to
happen and the next up to fiveyears, Jeff, which I think is
going to help impact our real estatemarket in a very positive way. I
(11:09):
know. Right now, what we'reseeing is a lot of people who are
here for temporary housing. But asthat those developments go, we're going to
see more long term people who aregoing to stay here. Right Talk a
little bit about what you see coming. Well, it's such a juxtaposition sent
from the nineteen eighties. You know, in the nineteen eighties, we saw
(11:31):
massive layoffs at the refineries, locallydifficulty finding employment. The county went out
and bought eleven hundred acres to giftto the states so that they could build
prison to create correctional officer jobs here, which is what ended up with the
Styles Unit, lablaw Unit Injection Countyalong with the federal prison. And then
(11:54):
you fast forward to the mid twothousand and five time frame when Motiva and
Total did pretty substantial expansion projects thatwe're in the multibillion dollars range and we
thought, you know, it justcouldn't get any better than this. And
then you know, for the lastten years, one of the things that's
(12:16):
made my jobs, County Judge easier. We have seen an industrial expansion the
likes of which we haven't seen sincethe spendle top ailboom. We have about
sixty five billion dollars worth of newindustrial infrastructure expansions in a variety of industries.
(12:37):
Started out with Golden Past Legs andSHANEI l G with you know,
ten plus billion dollars expansions in thearea and seventy Even though Shaneia is across
the waterway in Louisiana, about seventypercent of the working population there is from
Texas because it's much closer to JeffersonCounty in Orange County than it is to
(13:01):
Cameron Parish. Now we have Portauthor El and g Simper Energy fixing to
expand on eleven billion dollar plan onthree thousand acres they have on Highway eighty
seven in Port Arthur. We've gotmajor expansions going on at the Vlaire over
a finery with Diamond Green diesel productproject which takes animal fats and rend drinks
(13:28):
from slaughterhouses and turns it into ultralsoftware diesel products and jet fuel. Now
there's another expansion that's been announced forthe project that will make jet fuel there.
We have had major expansions recently atx on Mobile with the Blade projects.
So you know, in Jefferson Countywe're now at the point where we
(13:54):
make about ten percent of the dieselfuel in the United States, about fourteen
percent of the castolne, fifty percentof the commerce aviation fuel, seventy eight
percent of the military aviation fuel.We've got the number one military offload port
in the United States. Our waterwayEgyptian of the Sabine Nature's Waterway is the
third largest port in the United Statesby tonnage. So we've got the number
(14:18):
one military offload port in the UnitedStates. Over sixty percent of the nation's
strategic petroleum reserves offload on our waterway. And with the opening of the new
LNG facilities, we're gonna see aboutsix hundred and fifty ships a year added
to the waterway. So the Sabinepilots who navigate the ships in from the
outer banks into the ports have hadto add forty three new pilot positions.
(14:43):
And you know, we'll probably moveup to the second largest port in the
United States behind Houston Galveston. We'reto the number one crew to export in
the United States, where the numberone LG exporter in the United States globally,
and you know, we've seen hugeexpansions at Phillip sixty six Energies Transfer
(15:09):
Partners at OCI, and in addition, we're seeing a lot of blue and
green energy projects. We've got ArborRenewables, which is going to take some
of the cuttings that come off timberour timber resources to the northern counties Hardened,
(15:30):
Jasper, Newton, Tyler Counties,and they're going to use those uh
cuttings that are left over after thewood is milled to turn it into gasoline
products that can be sold into Californiaand the European markets. We've got the
Blue Methanol project going on at OCI. We've got a new hydrogen plant with
(15:56):
Lendy. These are all multi milliondollars projects. We've send some expansions down
by the old DuPont facility, andwe're gonna have a lot of expansions out
that are going to be beginning inthe western part of the county along the
Iten corridor. Some pretty heavy realestate investment by industrial companies in that area.
(16:25):
And so you know, with thecalculations of the forecasts are that we're
about forty nine thousand workers short ofwhat we need for all the upcoming projects.
But we're very fortunate in southeast Texasnumber one to have Dade Feeling as
(16:45):
our Speaker of the House because we'regetting some resources for educational institutions that we
really need for work forward preparedness.But we're blessed to have Lamar University l
I, Lamar State College, PortArthur, Lamar State College, Orange and
those people are very nimble in theirsolution orient and responding the needs that we
(17:06):
have in our community, creating programsthat will train up operators, that will
train up, you know, thepeople that we need do the job that
frankly pay a lot more than thecounty judge's job. Dot. You know,
so I went off and spent fouryears in undergraduate school and three years
(17:26):
in law school where I probably couldhave gone to l IT for two years
and ended it up making more moneythan I am as county judge. So
it's a lot of wonderful opportunities outthere, it is, and I think
the challenges you know, when youlive here and you've been here, you
don't recognize and you take for grantedall that we have here. I mean,
(17:49):
all of the resources that you saidat number one kudos, how do
you remember all of that? That'sa lot. But there's so much.
And like you said, that doesn'tinclude the things that are coming to Orange
County as well that are going tobenefit us in Jefferson County too. So
what we have here is a hugeblessing which impacts our real estate market in
(18:11):
a positive way and such that wedon't see the huge increases that most areas
see, but we don't see thehuge decreases. And so for me,
I am so happy was slow andsteady because it gets the job done.
I mean, increasing values by sixpercent annually, while some people go,
(18:33):
oh man, over in the WestCoast, they increased by twenty percent annually.
Yeah, but what goes up mustcome down, right, And so
having our slow and steady win therace, I think helps us and protects
us here in Southeast Texas for someof those huge drops that other areas see.
So if you're listening to the nationalnews about real estate, you should
(18:56):
really get with your local real estateagent and be able to get exactly what's
going on. When I gave youthat data between last year to this year,
and yes, we saw a slightdepth, but it was less than
ten percent, And so what we'reseeing is a little bit of a reduction,
but we're not at the same pacethat other people throughout the entire nation
or seeing, which has got tobe helpful for people when they decide whether
(19:21):
or not to come to Southeast Texas, because our affordability is much better.
Yeah, we've had a stability,you know. I always tell everybody objectively,
you'd find you'd be hard pressed tofind a better place to live in
Southeast Texas. We've got the PantyWoods to the north, the Gulf of
Mexico to the south. We haveabundance of good paying jobs. We have
wonderful educational institutions that are here,you know, outdoor recreational opportunities, reasonably
(19:51):
priced housing, reasonably fast food.We have. As much as everybody hates,
property taxes, out of the twohundred and fifty four counties in the
state of Texas, we have theninth lowest tax rate out of all those
two hundred and fifty four counties.And that's because about sixty eight percent of
(20:11):
the cost of government through your advaloremyour property taxes, is paid by industry.
So being in an industrialized area,I mean, I think in many
ways where the envy of a lotof my county judge friends who would love
to have the tax base that wehave, absolutely, And I know when
you talk to those county judge friends, they also talk about when they are
(20:36):
talking economic development, what's coming totheir area. They're excited when things come
in the millions. You know,oh, we've got so many millions.
And then when we say, oh, okay, well there's billions. I
mean, it's hard for my mindto even grasp that billions of dollars of
industry coming here. Wow, that'sjust we're doing something right here, really
(21:00):
are. I will admit to havebecoming somewhat spoiled. But you know,
in the early two thousands or thenineties, you know, one hundred million
dollar project would have been a hugedeal. Right, And now I'm spoiled.
I know, that's what I wassaying. We have, We've gotten
truly spoiled. But what a blessingto live here in this time, in
(21:25):
this season, and just like yousaid, to have the leadership we have
in place to facilitate it and helpus and grow us even to a better
position. So I'm truly excited aboutthat. I want to come back here
in just a little bit. We'regoing to talk more about what's going on
in our emergency management position. ButI want to thank you for the good
(21:45):
news, and I think the peopleof Southeast Texas need to hear that there's
so much good news going on herein Southeast Texas and we want to applaud
that and be excited about it andsee how we can participate in making it
better. When we come back,we're going to talk more with Jefferson County
Judge Jeff Brannick and the Emergency ManagementCoordinator, Robert Grimm. So don't go
(22:07):
away. This is welcome back.This is Dana Simmons and I have on
the show with me Jefferson County JudgeJeff Brannick, and our emergency management coordinator,
Robert Grimm. Let me tell you, if you miss that last segment
about what's going on in Southeast Texas, you really are going to have to
go back to the podcast and listento it. Judge Branneck gave us an
(22:27):
incredible high view of all that's comingto Southeast Texas and the wonderful pieces that
they're putting together to continue to growSoutheast Texas in such a way that we
can continue to be prosperous, andit's amazing. I am just in awe
of all that he just gave tous. But we want to move now
into the segment that we'll connect somewhatwith those possible growth contingencies that we have
(22:53):
going on, into our emergency managementposition. So you have been since January,
but even before that because you workedin that department then dealing with emergency
management situation. So I know specificallythis past weekend might have caught some of
(23:14):
us off guard about being prepared fora big storm or right now we're in
a hurricane season, so even beingprepared for that. So from your perspective,
where do you think we are andwhat are some of the things that
we need to talk to the publicabout and what do we need to do?
I would say that we need toplan now, as the weekend has
(23:37):
shown us that it can come upat any time. Having a plan now
on what you're going to do ata time of disaster as more beneficial than
you're trying to catch up with oneat the time of the disaster. So
we always talk to people about insurancepolicies. What is your plan if you
have to evacuate the area, Whatare about your pets, your small children?
Where are you going to go.So we always talk in that area
(23:57):
about the disaster recovery. Yeah,being prepared. And one of the things
that I did pull was I pulledthe mission statement from your website and it
says that Jefferson County's Office of EmergencyManagement mission is to minimize loss of life
and personal injury, damage to propertyand the environment from disasters. We strive
(24:18):
to accomplish this through a continuing programof outreach, coordination, planning, training,
and exercising for all hazards and forall four phases of emergency management,
which which is mitigation, preparedness,response, and recovery. I thought that
was pretty all inclusive, and youguys have handled all of those things here
in the last five six years oreven longer with Harvey and Emelda and the
(24:42):
way we've had to navigate through thosestorms. But one of the things that
I loved about that website was itgave a lot of those resources for people
to be able to go online andget that information. So talk a little
bit about all of those things thatyou guys have on there. Well ready.
Dot co is one of the biggersites that we have that you can
go on and it'll show you whatkits. You need to have some of
(25:03):
the items that you can put inthat to go kit and water, some
food, your prescription medicine, yourinsurance documentation that you have to have some
of the prescriptions that you may needlater on down the road that you can
fill from emergency contact information for thatindividual that's out there. Yeah, you
know, I personally have been througha few of these storms. I was
(25:30):
in Rita, had to trees throughmy roof. So I'm a Rita roof
person who got a readA roof andthose are coming up due again. So
for those of you who have anew roof and Rita, expect that you
may need to be changing those soon. We have that coming up on when
we're selling a home that they're nolonger insurable. So we're going to talk
(25:51):
about that in a different segment ina few weeks. But I've also been
in Harvey and Amelda flooded. Bothtimes had to be rescued, which was
super nice. Harvey, my inlaws were with us and so we needed
help, mostly because my father inlaw was in a wheelchair. But then
in Emelda that came up, likeyou said, be prepared Amelda for us
(26:15):
came up overnight and when we wokeup in the morning, we were stuck.
There was no way out, andso thankfully Poored Author Fire and Rescue
in their little boat came and gotme and my husband and our four dogs.
So that was not a lot offun, but I was so thankful
to have our emergency response team thereready to help those who are there.
(26:37):
So talk a little bit about someof the last storms and what you think
we can do better to be preparedfor this storm. I'll tell you one
thing is to leave when you're toldmy father in law is in a wheelchair
and I'm gonna throw my husband underthe bus. And during Harvey, He's
(27:00):
like, this property, this househas been here when they built Interstate ten.
The ponds on our property were usedto build Interstate ten. We've been
told by every surveyor Interstate ten wouldhave to be underwater before we took on
water. We are absolutely fine here, and guess what, it was a
(27:26):
very unique situation. But we werenot fine. And so instead of leaving,
he's like, it's easier with PapPaula just to stay here. But
I had a crop pot full ofroast, so we'd have plenty of food.
Then we ended up leaving there.But I think that's the key is
even if you think you're gonna befine, if people tell you to leave,
(27:47):
you should leave. One of thethings that we find with each of
these storms, from Ike to Harvey, to Emelda and to the storm that
we had just the other day,is that each and every one of them
are different. We find that somepeople flooded in Harvey and didn't flood in
Amelda, and the same thing withAmelda. It may not have flooded during
Harvey, but because of the rainfalland where it was located at, they
(28:08):
did flood during Emelda. So itis each storm and each and every one
of them are a different event.Like as we said, was a surge
event to where the floodwaters came upthat way, and then Harvey was a
rain event, and Emelda was arain event, but what we would alread
primarily a wind and vegetative debris event. So each of those are different storms
(28:33):
that you have to take into consideration. You know, just because your area
says you're not in a flood zone, how many people flooded in the Malda
and Harvey, that we're not actuallyin the flood zone. So what we'd
like to make sure people know is, just like you said, if we
call for an evacuation, to evacuatethe area area as soon as possible during
and you know, we always saymandatory evacuations, but you can always leave
(28:56):
any time that there's a storm outthere or getting closer into our area.
Absolutely, And I think that's agood point, is that getting out early
also helps in dealing with the trafficsituation. So talk a little bit about
how that is impacted in the emergencyresponse and what you guys do to make
(29:18):
sure that there is a passage wayfor us to get out of the area
now on the traffic management plan thatis in effect. What I always tell
people when I do outreach programs tothe community is that during a mandatory evacuation,
you can travel east, west,north, or north and so.
But during a mandatory evacuation, theroutes are changed. The only way you
(29:38):
can go from that point on isto the north. All evacuation routes go
that way. We have to takeinto consideration too, that even though Jefferson
County and some of the surrounding countiesmay not be as big, Harris County
is huge Galveston Countye is so ifthey're under the mandatory evacuation order two,
the roads are can be congested withall the individuals from Harris GA in Jefferson
(30:00):
County, Orange County, Harden Countyevacuating north. So the sooner you can
get at, the faster it willbe to where you can get the points
north and out of the storm area. Yeah, and the less traffic you're
going to have to deal with,which is so much better. Yes,
Yeah, So for us, wetalked a little bit about in the break
the impact when we have a majorstorm here. One of the things that
(30:22):
we had talked about is all thegrowth that we have in our area.
The judge talked about all that weproduce here that impacts the entire nation.
So talk a little bit about howthe storms and what happens here will impact
all of the United States really well, because we do produce so much of
(30:49):
the refined products and petrochemicals in theUnited States. With the economic analysis that
was done immediately in the aftermath ofHarvey, which shut down our waterway and
for several days shut down many environmentrefineries and chemical plants, and the calculation
is done by the economists from thenortheast, where that the consumer at the
(31:11):
pump spending an additional four point threebillion dollars because if you'll notice, if
they're a hurricane that hits a chargeof gasoline prices across the United States don't
vacillate a penny. If we gethit here in Houston or Jefferson County,
it's an immediate eight to ten centincrease. So that's where that four point
(31:33):
three billion dollars came in. AndI would just mentioned that since we're talking
about evacuations that you know, I'malways extremely hesitant when you call for an
evacuation. There's four possible scenarios thatcan occur. You can call an evacuation.
The storm does come, you cancall it an evacuation. It doesn't
(31:56):
come, you cannot call it.And a storm does come, you can
not call it, and the stormdoesn't come. And so you know,
two of those situations are bad.And even when you the storm does come
and a mandatory evacuation is in effect, I'm still very hesitant to call one.
And the reason is because that requiresall of our emergency management coordinators,
(32:22):
both both Robert and the emergency managementcoordinators at the city to bring in to
play the two one one program.That is to go out and get the
people that are on oxygen and wheelchairs, and then the nursing homes have to
evacuate. And when they have toevacuate the stress of that evacuation kills a
(32:43):
lot of those people. They cannothandle a twenty hour ride to Dallas in
bumper to bumper traffic, and youknow, and that's the last thing we
want to do. The other sideof that is if we call amandator,
where if we don't call it themandatory evacuation, and you know, three
(33:04):
quarters of our population leaves and goesto Dallas, they're going to find that
without the mandatory evacuation order, theirhome insurance policy is not going to pay
the additional living expense benefits. Soit's really darned if you do darned if
you don't situation, and it's anextremely difficult decision to make one that I
(33:32):
will often have conversations either in personor on conference call with all the area
of mayors and so it's a youknow, it's a difficult situation. But
if we've called one, then yeah, we feel that the factors and circumstances
(33:58):
what we're hearing from the National Hurricanesin a National Weather Service, Greg Bostwick,
are all things that we need toget people out. Even though I
think that since Rita in two thousandand five, you know, we built
back according to new building codes inthe state. I think our homes are
(34:19):
more resilient. We've seen less andless property damage through every storm, and
that's because people have built back anda higher quality, a higher standard that
has protected their home from getting thetype of damage that we saw in Rita
in two thousand and five. Right, And I can't imagine having the pressure
(34:43):
and the weight of making that decisionbecause, like you said, the challenge
of my daughter during Harvey was thedirector of rehabit and nursing facility, and
when they lost all power to thatfacility and they not yet evacuated, it
was a challenge for a week.It was very hard. She stayed there
(35:07):
with no electricity and no way toget out. She couldn't get back to
Beaumont. And so so I can'timagine having to think about all those pieces
because it's not like we have aguarantee that yes, the storm's coming or
no, the storm's not coming.And so trying to predict that. Wow,
I can't even imagine what has togo through your mind before you make
(35:31):
those decisions. So I would hopethat all of us in Southeast Texas would
be cognizant of how challenging that isand not jump to conclusions one way or
the other when it doesn't work out, because honestly, it's just like the
weather. I mean, many timesthey can't predict it, and so you're
(35:52):
relying on a lot of that theweather is going to do what the weather
is going to do, and it'sgoing to change at a drop of a
hat. So I appreciate all thatyou put into trying to make that very
precise, and I can't imagine.So I'm gonna give you a little more
grace from now on. Jeff,I'm saying, we have so enjoyed this
(36:14):
segment. We're going to come backhere in a bit at bit and just
wrap up talking with Judge Jeff Brannickand also Robert Grimm, the emergency Management
coordinator. I hope you've enjoyed this, and if you are having any questions
about what they've talked about, don'thesitate to reach out to my office and
we'll try to get those questions answeredfor you. You can go to our
(36:37):
website DSRE dot com and be ableto fill out some information there as well.
When we come back, we'll wrapup the show and give you a
little additional information. This is DanaSimmons with the Dana Simmons Show for head
Dorian Orange. Welcome back. Thisis Dana Simmons and I have joining me
today Jefferson County Judge Jeff Brannick andour emergency management coordinator, Robert Grimm.
(36:59):
And we been talking about a lotof things in the county, how things
are going well, all the expansionsand what's coming to Southeast Texas, but
also trying to get prepared for thehurricane season and what we need to know.
So Robert, I'd love for youto kind of give a synopsis of
what is it that people need toknow and how do they need to be
prepared if we have a storm startto come this way. Well, one
(37:22):
of the first things that we talkedabout earlier was the insurance. I would
call up your agent, make surethat you have adequate insurance on your house.
Make sure that it is insured forthe full price that it will be
covered in a storm and a hurricane, tornado, or whatever natural disaster that
we have coming to us. Alsolooking at flood inshorts. I'm not sure
if most people understand it takes atleast thirty days to start that insurance policy.
(37:45):
So if you want it, it'sgoing to take thirty days from the
date that you initiate it for itto take effects. So not to wait
to where we're seeing a storm insidethe Gulf that's heading towards Jefferson County to
try to call your agent to getthat flood insurance. It's way too late
there going to write it there.Yes, so today, if you did
it today, you wouldn't get thisuntil July thirteenth. It would be that
thirty day waiting period. So Iwould suggest or strongly urge everyone in the
(38:08):
county to look at what the costis for flood insurance and to get it.
Absolutely, I agree with you.And as we've seen, the last
two storms that we had were bothflood events. Yes, so having that
in place is going to be critical. So what are some other things that
you think we need to make surethat we have in place and ready to
go? Make sure you have yourevacuation plan. Where are you going to
(38:30):
go, what are you going todo with your pets? And again we
talked about the medicines that we can'tstress that enough about making sure that you
have an adequate supply of your medicationsthat are needed during an evacuation, so
when you get to wherever you're goingyour destination, you already have enough to
last you for a period of time. I love that you mentioned pets and
(38:51):
neds because both of those are criticallyimportant. You need to make sure where
you're going that you can take yourpets. And please don't leave your pets
at home. It could be Imean, I know Hurricane Rita, it
was a while before we could getback into town because there was so much
infrastructure that wasn't up and running again, so it was like two weeks that
(39:12):
we were out of town. Don'tleave your pets. It's really not the
job of our first responders to goget your pets. Take your pets with
you. Find a place that hasan opportunity to receive those pets, which
there are hotels that will accept thatalso airbnbs, and so use it as
a little staycation. As some peoplesay, I mean no herrication. That's
(39:37):
what we call it a Hurricacian tobe able to get out of town,
enjoy a few days to relax andnot have to worry about what might happen
here, so we're prepared. Ialso think one of the things that was
important for us is to have plentyof water in the vehicle, snacks in
the vehicle, because as you geton the road it can be challenging to
(40:00):
find those things because everyone else isstopping for those things too. So I
included lots of drinks and snacks formy kids and family so that as we're
going we had had those with usand didn't have to worry about if somewhere
else didn't have those anything else thatyou want to make sure that we get
out there to the public well,and to touch on your point about the
(40:22):
water and the snacks and everything youneed to plan for that now too.
Everybody else is going to have thesame idea. Once the storm starts to
turn or come into Jefferson County,everybody's going to run to hub, Walmart,
Kroger and by all the water,all the snacks, all that is
going to be gone. So weasked that you prepare prior to the storm,
before the season starts right now.Is a great time to go out
(40:43):
there and purchase what you need tohave at least the two weeks apply of
water, some snacks, and everythingon there for your trip. That you're
going to go to the evacuation center. Absolutely, even if you need to
have a lot closet away from yourkids, Yes, you're going to.
You're considering contemplating building a home,make sure that the base floor of the
(41:04):
home is well above base flood elevation. I'd even consider if I were building
a home going higher than what thecity and county rules require for the flood
zoned and maybe using a little bitmore dirt. I absolutely agree. Well,
what a pleasure it has been tohave both of you on the show.
Thank you so much for educating ourpublic, letting each of us know
(41:28):
exactly what we need to do tobe prepared, and for giving us such
great leadership in the positions that youhold. I am so excited to have
had this opportunity. If you missedany part of it, you can go
back next week. This will beon the podcast at the KOVII website,
so you can listen again to getall of that great information. But for
(41:49):
now, this is Dana Simmons withThe Dana Simmons Show. Have a great weekend.
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