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The texting option is especially exciting for Brad Monroe, chief of Bay County Emergency Services. If a person is incapacitated and can t talk, they can send a text, Monroe said. I think it s going to be an advantage to 911 call takers.
Monroe described a situation in which somebody s house is broken into and instead of calling they can send a text to 911. Both sides can exchange text messages to describe the event and what is going on instead of talking on the phone when it would be best to stay as quiet as possible.
Each county will be responsible for developing and enforcing procedures to maintain, operate and enhance the Joint Regional Next Generation 911 GIS Project. They will also have to make sure confidential data from the shared 911 system is protected and maintain and enforce security requirements for the system.
PANAMA CITY Though Bay County requested $7.5 million in reimbursement from federal officials for the scrapped Panama City federal courthouse project in early February, not much has changed.
The General Services Administration, which had a lease on the Bay County Juvenile Courthouse, is still trying to work the numbers on the proposal, officials say. The plan was to renovate the juvenile courthouse and turn it into a new federal courthouse.
According to County Manager Bob Majka, county officials still are pursuing a federal courthouse in Panama City. He said that they are working with Rep. Neal Dunn s office to determine the next steps after the lease termination agreement is reached with GSA.
PANAMA CITY High school seniors will know going into Gulf Coast State College next year that they ll have $1,400 in tuition covered for the full year.
GCSC announced April 7 the Gulf Coast Guarantee, which grants 2021 high school graduates $700 a semester starting next year. The scholarship was granted for students from Bay, Franklin and Gulf counties.
The thought of paying for college can be stressful for parents as tuition rates continue to rise from what it was decades ago. In Bay County, that s a tougher decision than most because not only have residents gone through the COVID-19 pandemic, they re still recovering from Hurricane Michael more than two years ago.
Husfelt said the school board decided in March 2020 to follow the advice of medical professionals when it came to COVID-19. He said the only time local officials deviated was when they changed the distance requirement for quarantine from 6 feet to 3 feet.
Husfelt said the CDC came out with similar guidelines later.
The mask mandate was a hot topic for Bay County residents who didn t want their children to be forced to wear masks. Some said it would be impossible to police and others were concerned about how it would be enforced.
School Board Chairman Steve Moss said the decision will be driven by data, which appears to making masks optional for next school year.