From Reactive to Proactive: How the City of Panama City Became the Trusted Source for Public Communication
Keys to Project:
Replacing a reactive, one-person communications function with a proactive strategy built on Mass Notification and a redesigned municipal website
City:
City of Panama City, FloridaPopulation:
37,806Products:
Challenge:
Panama City needed a more proactive, direct way to communicate with residents instead of relying on social media algorithms or local news to determine when and how information reached the community.
Solution:
CivicPlus Mass Notification gives the City of Panama City a direct way to deliver timely, targeted updates across text, email, and social media, while CivicPlus Municipal Websites provides one trusted destination for complete information and ongoing updates.
Result:
Staff now deliver targeted, timely communications across multiple channels while directing residents back to one authoritative source, helping the City reduce confusion and build trust in official information.
A Reactive Team in a Fast-Moving News Cycle
Before implementing its current communications strategy, Panama City’s communications function consisted of a single staff member working in what City Manager Jonathan Hayes describes as a mostly reactive mode: responding to news rather than getting ahead of it. Hayes, who spent nearly a decade working on Capitol Hill before returning to his hometown, had seen firsthand how much damage a delay or a wrong detail could do once information hit social media.
The City’s biggest vulnerability was timing. Many Panama City residents rely on Facebook for local information, but the platform’s algorithm can bury time-sensitive posts. A boil water notice might surface four days after it was posted. A road closure notice might reach a commuter after their drive to work rather than before.
I just knew how important communicating with constituents is and giving them not only timely information, but accurate information.
Jonathan Hayes
City Manager, City of Panama City, FL
Underneath it all was one goal: Panama City needed a way to reach residents directly, on the City’s timeline, rather than waiting for social media or local news to carry the message.
A Website Built Around How Residents Find Information
The City’s website compounded the problem. It wasn’t broken, but it was dated and hard to navigate, with no clear path for residents to quickly find what they needed. Hayes and Public Affairs Manager Kristen Kennedy helped lead the recent CivicPlus website redesign with a focus on creating a simpler resident experience.
The website needed to be easier to navigate so residents could find what they were looking for.
Jonathan Hayes
City Manager, City of Panama City, FL
The redesign refreshed the site’s look and introduced homepage graphic buttons that help residents quickly reach the information they use most, without relying on the search bar or dropdown menus.
Why Panama City Chose to Grow with CivicPlus
Panama City considered other mass notification providers, but its existing relationship with CivicPlus gave the team confidence in the partnership and support behind the technology. The usability and flexibility of CivicPlus Mass Notification reinforced that decision, giving the city a platform a small communications team could manage without adding complexity.
Mass Notification gives the team flexibility to control who can send to specific audiences, while templates help staff quickly build consistent messages. Staff can also manage notifications away from their desks through the mobile app and distribute text, email, and social media communications from one platform.
The opportunity to do a text, email, and post to social media all at once has been just such a time saver.
Kristen Kennedy
Public Affairs Manager, City of Panama City, FL
Turning the Website and Alert Center into One Source of Truth
Today, the communications team uses CivicPlus Municipal Websites features, including News Flash and Alert Center to keep the website current with everything from boil water notices and road closures to holiday announcements, while homepage graphic buttons help residents quickly find the information they need. Every Mass Notification and social post links residents back to the website for complete information and ongoing updates.
If you're signed up and subscribed to our mass notification system, you get the news first.
Kristen Kennedy
Public Affairs Manager, City of Panama City, FL
From 2024 to 2026, Panama City saw a 41.99% increase in new website users, a 38.88% increase in sessions, and an 18.16% increase in page views. These gains reflect growing use of the City’s website as a source for information and updates.
When Local Disruptions Require Immediate Answers
As Panama City continues its long-term recovery from a major hurricane, infrastructure projects have created communication challenges, including water main breaks that can disrupt businesses and residents.
Using CivicPlus Mass Notification, the communications team can send an initial update within 15 to 30 minutes and follow up with repair and restoration information as it becomes available. GIS-based targeting helps staff focus those updates on affected areas rather than notifying the entire city about every localized disruption.
If you start pinging people too much or giving them too much information that doesn't apply to them, they're going to start tuning us out.
Jonathan Hayes
City Manager, City of Panama City, FL
By communicating quickly and targeting the people affected, Panama City can reduce uncertainty while keeping notifications relevant and valuable to residents.
Setting a New Standard for Municipal Communication
Panama City’s more proactive approach is getting noticed beyond the city’s boundaries. Hayes says he has heard from people in surrounding communities who wish their municipalities communicated the way Panama City does.
I've heard from other people how they wish their municipalities had what we have or communicate the way that we communicate.
Jonathan Hayes
City Manager, City of Panama City, FL
The city continues building on that strategy through new ways of reaching residents, including video updates from City leadership shared through its website and YouTube.
Hayes’s advice to other local governments is simple: Identify the problem, build a strategy, and “get ahead of the wheel before you get behind it.” For Panama City, that strategy has created a more direct connection with residents and one trusted place to turn for timely, official information.
Ready to give your residents one place to turn?
See how CivicPlus Mass Notification and Municipal Websites help local governments deliver timely communications and connect residents with trusted, complete information. Request a demo / Learn more