GERMANTOWN, Tenn. — Nearly three months after a more than week-long water crisis forced everyone in the city of Germantown to be without fresh drinking water, the city released an independent report on the emergency.
Former Collierville town administrator James Lewellen presented the report to the Germantown Board of Alderman and Mayor Mike Palazzolo Monday night, citing communication as a main area of improvement for the city during the next emergency.
"One-on-one interviews revealed several instances where the City’s message was misunderstood," Lewellen said in the report. "With literally thousands of information exchanges throughout the crisis, it is not unexpected, but it is a reminder of the importance of the content and structure of our messages."
Lewellen gave several pages of recommendations to Germantown over how to better handle crisis communications in the future but said the issues with communication weren't a result of malintent or neglect.
"I don’t believe the problems with communication, or the public’s perception of communication, had anything to do with a lack of effort on the part of the employees working on the communication effort," Lewellen said in the report. "The employees involved worked long hours every day throughout the crisis. For a small team, they produced an impressive body of work."
Lewellen said he had access to staff, elected officials and contractors involved with the crisis, and held several interviews with those involved and those affected.
The water crisis affected more than just the 41,300 people who live in Germantown, but also a major hospital (Methodist Germantown), dozens of doctors' offices and hundreds of businesses. This caused an economic impact Palazzolo said can’t be measured yet, but it is no doubt in the millions when considering tax and business revenue and workers’ wages that were lost.
When asked in July if the people of Germantown are owed an apology, Palazzolo said they "most certainly" are.
"I’m sincerely apologizing for the disruption in our lives," Palazzolo said. "I live here. I’ve lived here for almost half a century. My parents do as well. I take great pride in the responsibility I have as a leader, and what goes with this responsibility is taking ownership of problems and then solving those problems.”
Human error caused a diesel fuel spill that made Germantown’s water supply unsafe for drinking for at least a week, according to Plazzolo.