Crisis Communications
UF Safety
A group of University of Florida parents has been vocally advocating in the community; this letter was our response.
To ensure the combined safety information from the City of Gainesville was easy to find, we created a webpage to share with UF stakeholders.
Confronted with safety concerns in advance of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Series, we produced citywide messaging.
The safety messaging aimed at the campus community and general population was reiterated throughout the series and was sucessful.
Budget Crisis
With a very public split from our municipal utility driving deep budget cuts for FY 2024, we ran an educational campaign series about fiscal matters.
Part of the challenge was helping residents understand why certain areas continued to grow while other departments took deep cuts.
This particular explanation of finding efficiencies and using the logical overlap between departments to save funds was very well received by the public.
We concluded the seven-part series with a piece describing the different pots of money included in the annual budget.
Milton
On Oct. 7, 2024, Hurricane Milton appeared to be heading right for Gainesville and intense messaging was needed to prepare the community.
This is an example of our continued messaging throughout the storm's approach toward north central Florida.
By our third update, it appeared the track had changed and we worked to align our messaging accordingly.
Our region was spared any serious damage and by Oct. 10 we were able to issue post-storm information about debris pickup and reporting issues.
JLAC / GRU
Aware of employee concerns, this message from Mayor Ward was sent internally on February 27, 2023.
On April 14, after many drafts and revisions, the City Manager sent this public message announcing closure of Reichert House Youth Academy.
This wording was challenging, as I had determined the need for public acknowledgment of this event but a cooperative tone was required.
As the State Auditor General released his preliminary report in early October, my original news release draft went through many revisions across several departments prior to final publication.
Hurricane Ian
As the storm passed, I was asked to write words to be delivered from inside the Emergency Operations Center by the Director of Public Safety.
Following the hurricane, I traveled by ambulance to visit field medical facilities with EMS crews on shift in limited access areas of the barrier islands.
I worked closely with medical professionals in the EOC to create and print generator safety messaging; first responders distributed in the field.
While working inside the EOC, one of my responsibilities was to create graphics with resonance for Lee County's social media channels.
GPD K-9 Unit
This news release, written on tight deadline in partnership with the City Manager, was a reaction to the unit's premature return to service by GPD.
Following community concern about the status of the Gainesville Police Department's K-9 Unit, we set two public meetings.
The Office of Communications & Marketing developed the FAQ sheet for distribution to the public and media.
Part of my role at the community meetings was to take notes and produce documents that accurately recorded public sentiment.