City of Gastonia declares state of emergency due to supply chain issues

The city of Gastonia voted to approve the declaration of a state of emergency at a council meeting Tuesday night.

According to city documents, the emergency is caused by severe supply chain issues limiting the city’s access to critical supplies needed to maintain its electric, water and sewer services.

“The city of Gastonia followed the bidding process set forth in Chapter 143 of the General Statutes in order to buy new electrical transformers in 2021 and awarded a contract as a result of the process; however, to date no electrical transformers have been received from that supplier, and the city’s supply of electrical transformers has fallen dangerously low in the last two years,” the document said.

In 2023, the North Carolina General Assembly adopted Session Law 2023-137, which created a new statute called the Emergency Supply Chain Declaration.

The declaration allows North Carolina bidding laws to be waived in the event of a supply chain emergency.

Using an emergency supply chain declaration will allow the city to obtain the needed materials quickly.

“With the city inventory of critical apparatus, supplies and equipment running dangerously low, it is becoming entirely foreseeable that, not only, may the city not be able to have adequate resources to restore electric, water and/or sewer service after a significant storm event, but also, that the city may not be able to provide critical infrastructure components for new development,” the document said. “As a result of the above-described disaster, the City Council of the city of Gastonia hereby determines that there is an imminent threat of, or existing conditions have caused or will cause, widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property…”

According to the city the supply chain state of emergency applies to:

• Distribution transformers

• Underground primary cable

• Pad mounted switch gear

• Voltage regulators

• Ductile iron or Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pipe, couplings, valves, bends, and flange kits

• Pumps and parts for centrifugal and submersible pumps

• Generators and/or associated repair parts needed to maintain operations and compliance with all regulatory requirements

• Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) repair parts

• Pressure Reducing Valves (PRV) and/or associated repair parts

• Water meters and/or repair parts

• Electrical replacement and repair parts of water and wastewater infrastructure, which must maintain operation to protect public health and meet Federal and State regulatory requirements

• Equipment, for which no redundancy exists, required to maintain water and wastewater treatment operations and/or compliance with federal and state regulatory requirements

• Repair service of utility equipment and infrastructure required to maintain or meet legal regulatory requirements

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: City of Gastonia declares state of emergency