Anthony J. Romanello - November 2026
I used to ignore tornado warnings.
Weather alerts were digital white noise. Late one night in 2008, as a rookie county administrator, I received a call from the Fire Chief, who told me an F-2 tornado had touched down in our county. Early reports indicated there was significant damage, and he was on his way to pick me up.
When the Chief and I arrived on scene around midnight, we found people sheltered in garages and neighbors’ houses. Over 100 houses were damaged and several totally leveled. Amazingly, there were no injuries. I never ignored tornado warnings again.
After ensuring everyone was safe, the recovery began. This is the quiet, hard work of local government in the aftermath of a disaster. The calm, deliberate approach of the public safety and human services agencies helped bring a storm-ravaged neighborhood back on its feet.
Local government has always been hard, but lately it’s become a tornado
Civil public discourse is hard to find. Local government officials have always been the target of verbal attacks. And we’re not perfect; maybe some of those were justified by a weary public. But today, personal and physical attacks are common. I attended a community meeting recently where a locality had 10 uniformed police officers in attendance just to be on the safe side.
How can we set a course for our communities when we’re shouting at each other?
I hope the rancor and personal attacks are fleeting, but recent events suggest they are a new normal.
We know you can’t ignore the warnings
If you are in a tornado, our team at S.I.R. will be your partner. Call on us to help you bring calm to your community. We will walk with you through the storm.
