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Commission seeks clearer city communications after boil-water notice confused county residents
Summary
Commissioners urged the county to ask the City of Port St. Joe to include point-of-contact info and specify affected neighborhoods in future boil-water notices; they discussed using AlertGulf or CodeRED to ensure county constituents receive accurate alerts.
Commissioners raised multiple constituent complaints after a recent boil-water notice that county residents said did not clearly specify which neighborhoods were affected. One commissioner asked staff to send a letter to the city asking that future notices include a point of contact, a clear list of affected areas and an estimated duration.
A county official noted the city's press release referenced general locations ("Saint Joe and Overstreet") without naming Saint Joe Beach, Beacon Hill or Windmark, which led to confusion about who was affected. The county discussed using existing alerting systems (AlertGulf and CodeRED) and agreed to coordinate messages so county residents receive clear and timely information in future water events.
Commissioners also said confusion about whether alerts came from the city or the county contributed to the problem and asked staff to clarify responsibilities and channels for future directional messaging.
