Master Public Information diploma (2021).
Retiring from the fourth largest municipality in .the state of South Carolina after nearly 24 years of heading the Town of Mount Pleasant’s communications office is a momentous occasion for me. Providing public information to our vibrant coastal community gave constant meaning and purpose to my professional life. Working with five mayors, 34 councilmembers, two town administrators and many talented colleagues has been the honor of a lifetime.
As the community doubled in size during the span in which I served, its growth prompted the communications office to look for new ways to share information and engage the public. The era of the mighty fax was over, and the digital age was revolutionizing how our residents and businesses were curating and consuming news. We developed new products and dozens of new tools to better communicate with the public. We incorporated social media platforms, harnessed emerging media, posted visual and digital messaging, crafted e-newsletters and created digital boards. Our work in digital media has been recognized at the state, national and international levels since 2009.
The communications office has won numerous international awards in a wide array of internal and external outreach efforts. Additionally, the Municipal Association of South Carolina honored us with two achievement awards for our public service announcements and literacy programs. The biggest government accolades were winning the 2010 and 2018 All-America City Awards. Writing a persuasive application led us to be selected twice to travel and compete against 20 other municipalities across the nation. We brought a delegation of stakeholders and community members to highlight our civic engagement programs and won in Kansas City (2010) and in Denver (2018). Winning an All-America City Award for government is said to be akin to winning an Oscar in the entertainment industry. These award ceremonies were among the highlights of my career with the Town of Mount Pleasant. I am incredibly proud of the work the mayor, council, staff and public accomplished to win these national accolades.
Harnessing technology to better communicate with the public during weather-related events has proved critical. The preparedness campaigns have helped prevent, protect against, respond to and recover from threats and hazards. While the first decade and a half of weather events were relatively calm, the past six years have brought an increase in threats to our coast. Hurricanes Irma (2017), Florence (2018) and Dorian (2019), along with the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-21) and Hurricane Ian (2022), have impressed upon our coastal communities the need to prepare. These recent events have helped us advance our emergency communications preparedness.
The COVID-19 pandemic preceded my retirement and tested all the tools and technology we had acquired and fine-tuned over the years. As a communications manager, I have attended countless training sessions and scenarios on pandemics, yet nothing could have fully prepared us for the weight of this unprecedented event. The communications staff relied heavily on technology to facilitate meetings and connect and communicate with our residents. The tools we developed were vital to ensuring continuity of operations.
While addressing the challenges of the pandemic, I completed a two-year training with FEMA and Homeland Security at the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland. There, I was awarded the Master Public Information Officer degree — the highest certification available to a public information officer in the country. As the only female in South Carolina and one of only four of these officers, I felt immense gratitude to the Town of Mount Pleasant for helping me pursue and reach that goal.
Looking back at nearly 24 years in the field of communications, the landscape could not be more different. Thanks to mayors and council members, past and present, the communications office has grown and advanced. I have confidence in the future of the office as it continues to progress and grow.
As I complete my last hurricane season and the myriad special events, ground breakings and ribbon cuttings I have helped organize over the years, I feel honored and humbled by the opportunity to serve a town I love, colleagues I respect and residents I have served faithfully.
By Martine Miller
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