The H Word

Are you and your family prepared for a disaster? Hurricane season is upon us, but it’s not too late to learn how you can better weather any storms that may come our way.  

1: Know Your Risk Understanding the hazards that exist within Chatham County is the first step to preparedness! Learn more HERE about the largest threat to our community in the hot summer and fall months --  hurricanes!

2: Prepare Your Family The National Hurricane Center’s Cone of Uncertainty, Chatham County’s Hurricane Evacuation Zones, the Contraflow of I-16, Chatham’s government assisted evacuation program and the Department of Public Health’s Hurricane Registry are all important things for you to understand as they can affect the safety of you and your family in an emergency. Follow CEMA on social media to learn more!

3: Prepare Your Pets Microchipping your animals is one of the best ways to ensure that they are not lost during a disaster event. Learn more about the benefits of microchipping your animal HERE.

4: Strengthen Your Home You surely know the importance of flood insurance within Chatham County, but do you know how homeowners can better protect their homes from high winds and how homeowners can use trees to help with flood mitigation on their property? Want a head start on how you can better prepare your home? Check out the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) website HERE.

Tune in to The Chat podcast HERE to learn more from the experts, as CEMA’s Alli Padgett and Chelsea Sawyer talk about the process of evacuating for a hurricane and share tips for hurricane preparedness. Chatham Emergency Management Agency wants YOU to take the time NOW to prepare for emergencies that can occur within Chatham County!

(BEHIND THE SCENES)

Filming another episode of The Chat

Rent-a-Park

For your next event

Did you know that Chatham County Parks and Recreation has a variety of facilities that can be reserved for private functions such as classes, club meetings, birthday or anniversary parties, family or school gatherings, festivals, craft fairs, etc.?

Click HERE for information on what's available and how to make reservations, and HERE for all the things you need to know about renting park facilities.

And don't forget to float on over HERE for all the information on how you can make a splash with your next birthday party at the Chatham County Aquatic Center!

KUDOS

Chatham County Clerk of Commission, Janice Bocook, Earns Prestigious Designation

Congratulations to Janice Bocook, Chatham County’s first ever Master Certified Clerk, who recently completed an extensive course of training from the International Institute of Municipal Clerks. In her 12 years as Chatham County Clerk of Commission, Janice has consistently pursued professional education that has earned her every level of clerking certification available . . . and she’s already got her sites on an even higher level coming soon.

Janice's favorite part of being The Clerk is the pride she feels every time she swears in the County’s new Police Officers, and she enjoys assisting the County Commissioners and the public. She especially takes pride in the exacting level of attention she gives to her duties in the commission meetings, where she serves as a resource for questions of proper procedure but particularly as “a professional listener.” Janice records every word uttered in the course of a meeting, then spends hours, even days, transcribing the meeting to provide a faithful, completely accurate record.

“My main priority is the minutes,” Janice says. “I take them really seriously. They’re verbatim, and they’re important, and it’s our history.” A history that’s in excellent hands with Master Certified Clerk, Janice Bocook. 

TIP 'n TOSS!

Don’t put out the welcome mat for mosquitoes! 

If you were a mosquito looking for a nice place to settle down and start a family, you'd be looking for any place that water can collect and stagnate, even in places as small as a bottle cap. Birdbaths & pet bowls, flowerpots & garden tubs, children’s toys & wading pools, gutters, piles of leaves, and yard debris can all become breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

    Chatham County Mosquito Control is always on the job, knocking down the hordes of pesky insects that plague our part of the world, especially in warm rainy seasons. You can help a lot, too, by taking steps to keep those bugs from ever being hatched: just make “TIP ‘n TOSS” part of your regular routine. Look for items holding water and TIP them out before they can attract mosquitoes and TOSS out items that might not be needed at all, so they’re just not there to collect water.   

Keep water storage containers such as rain barrels covered and vegetation trimmed to reduce hiding places for adult mosquitoes. Safe larvicides can be used in items too large or too heavy to tip, such as bird baths or garden pools. And lastly, work with your neighbors to tend to common areas where you live, so that mosquitoes won’t want to live there with you.

Did you know that August 20^th is officially World Mosquito Day? It’s the date Sir Ronald Ross discovered the link between mosquitoes and malaria back in 1897.  It can seem like EVERY day is Mosquito Day here on the Georgia coast, but it doesn’t have to be. Use the MyChatham App to communicate directly with Mosquito Control whenever there’s a need.