Natural disasters usually bring communities together.
But Hurricane Ian — and some statements before the storm made landfall in Florida — may have pushed the governments of Manatee County and Holmes Beach further apart.
The squabble got going when county administrator Scott Hopes told the island cities that the county would be shutting off water service to the island before the evacuation was complete.
Hopes then said during a Sept. 27 Manatee County Emergency Operations Center news conference that Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer had requested Hopes and the county keep water services to Anna Maria Island active during the storm on behalf of remaining residents.
“I don’t want the police chief in Holmes Beach calling me to say, ‘Please don’t turn off the water because you know our residents aren’t going to leave,’” Hopes said. “If we were to leave that water on, and then we have a problem, we could have to shut down the entire system for everybody in Manatee County because some people wanted to stay on the island.”
Police Chief Bill Tokajer posted a statement on Oct. 4 to the HBPD’s Facebook page to “set the record straight” about Hopes “publicly shaming” him and the city’s residents.
Tokajer said he did call Hopes that day to request he “revisit” the order to turn off the water, not for residents remaining behind in spite of the evacuation order but rather on behalf of first responders who were necessarily staying overnight for the safety and welfare of everyone.
“I did not make the request because I wanted water for our residents who refused to leave, but because our first responders … would not be leaving the island until the wind was too dangerous, which at the time of the phone call was not expected till mid-morning Wednesday,” Tokajer wrote.
While Tokajer said there were a few holdouts against the county’s mandatory evacuation order, he praised residents for their efforts preparing for the storm and heeding the evacuation order.
“As Island leaders, we could not be prouder of our residents, businesses and property owners as they took Hurricane Ian very seriously, sand-bagging, boarding up businesses, residences. Coming to the city hall and police department to get over 1,100 re-entry tags,” he wrote.
Mayor Judy Titsworth told The Islander Sept. 30 that Hopes’ comments were “very disturbing” and backed up Tokajer’s claims about requesting a delay for the water shut off on behalf of first responders.
“He just goes on and on accusing us of not evacuating? This was one of the best evacuations we’ve ever done in the city,” Titsworth said. “It was a ghost town out here. … He was just trying to make us look horrible.”
“That was probably the most disturbing thing about this whole response,” she added.
The other cities on the island also reported little to no issues with evacuating residents ahead of the storm.
Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy told The Islander Oct. 7 that the city’s evacuation efforts went smoothly but he spoke to about 12 people the morning after Ian passed who said they stayed during the storm.
Murphy said Tokajer’s concern about turning the water off while first responders remained on the island was valid but he was more concerned about the lack of water if a fire were to occur.
He said he had spoken to the county EOC about his concerns and was promised a water tanker would be placed on the island in the event of a fire.
However, Murphy said, he wasn’t aware if the county fulfilled that promise.
Bradenton Beach Police Chief John Cosby told The Islander Oct. 7 that he knew of only about five people who did not comply with the evacuation order and stayed on the island through the storm.
Cosby said many islanders’ recent memory of Hurricane Irma in 2017 inspired them to find safer places to stay on the mainland.
“They were gone before we told them to leave,” Cosby said.
Hopes did not respond to Sept. 30 and Oct. 7 calls from The Islander.
However, county information outreach manager Bill Logan further explained the decision to shut off water to the island in an Oct. 7 interview with The Islander.
Logan said, regardless of whether the delay was requested for island stragglers or first responders, water services had to be shut down to maintain the sewage and potable water infrastructure.
Logan said potential damage to the infrastructure could have left the county water system contaminated.
He added that the timing of the shutdown was to provide time for utility crews to close lift station valves on the island and make it back to safety by nightfall.