Learning to Communicate

The importance of communication not only between state departments and the public, but with other state departments, was a topic of discussion during the January 7 meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC).

The topic came up under a report from Carbon County Public Health as Dr. Duane Abels—the county health officers—revisited a case in 2024 involving anthrax detected in Elk Mountain cattle. As was reported by WyoFile, in September more than 50 cattle and one moose died of anthrax. Some of the cattle, it was later reported by Wyoming Public Media, belonged to Elk Mountain rancher Joyce Menke who believed she was also infected by anthrax.

Prior to the incident in September, Wyoming had not dealt with a case of anthrax in livestock since the 1970s.

“We [Department of Health] have streamlined our communication with the Department of Agriculture since they are the ones in charge of anthrax,” said Abels. “I did learn that I need to improve my communication with mayors. I did communicate with you [county commissioners] but I learned a lesson from that experience.”

Commissioner John Johnson asked Abels what he meant by “streamlined communication.” Abels replied that both the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture were working on better communication with each other.

“Whenever we evaluate [an incident] everybody always says communication is where things fail the most. We discovered the communication between the different state entities wasn’t as we hoped,” said Nurse Manager Amanda Brown. “They tried to work within themselves at the State level to increase communication, which comes down and helps everybody else.”

Johnson said, following a meeting held in Elk Mountain in September, he believed most everyone in the area felt the incident was handled well.

“There’s going to be some learning curves and some bumps,” said Johnson. “From my perspective, it was handled quite well given the circumstances.”

“Whenever we evaluate [an incident] everybody always says communication is where things fail the most. We discovered the communication between the different state entities wasn’t as we hoped." ~ Amanda Brown, Carbon County Public Health Nurse Manager

According to Brown, she believed the communication breakdown came due to the unique circumstances of the incident where both cattle and a person were infected—or potentially infected—with anthrax. That, said Brown, likely led to confusion as to which state department would issue the press release and what information was shared.

“I had a conversation with the state vet on a different issue but this came up, being as I’m from Carbon County. They admitted to getting the right information to community leaders so we can get the message to the ground was really kind of a failure on their side of the equation,” said Commissioner John Espy. “They stayed in their veterinary world and [were] trying to figure out what they did in 1978, not thinking about today’s world and social media and how things got ahead of them.”

Commissioner Sue Jones raised the question of whether the Department of Homeland Security should have been involved in the communication aspect of the Elk Mountain anthrax case.

“The agency that thrives in communication is Homeland Security and I don’t know if there’s discussion that maybe they utilize that agency a little bit more in these things as far as communication, rather than rely on five or 10 boots on the ground to notify other people,” said Jones. “I talked to some of the vets and they didn’t think it was proper, at that time, to say anything. They needed to know what it was and there was sensitive information that didn’t need to create panic and fear. I would hope the state level is a little better prepared for mass communication.”

“I would rather be informed early on and have it go nowhere than to be informed later when it’s already an event." ~ Lenny Layman, Carbon County Office of Emergency Management

For the part of Carbon County Public Health, Abels told the BOCCC he had contacted Lenny Layman with the Carbon County Office of Emergency Management early in the situation. Layman echoed Jones’ comments that the Department of Homeland Security—along with the Office of Emergency Management—likely wasn’t utilized as often as it could be.

“As Amanda rightly said, comms is always an issue but what is also an issue is the lack of engagement of EM (Emergency Management),” said Layman. “We’re the agency that is tasked with building that structure and, when we’re engaged, communication certainly goes better.”

Layman said a misunderstanding of his role and the role of the Office of Emergency Management is he is brought on after a situation has been determined to be an emergency.

“We get engaged, typically, when the incident is overwhelming and they’re asking for that response help which is not where EM lives. Response is not typically where we live, we live in the support and coordination piece,” said Layman. “I would rather be informed early on and have it go nowhere than to be informed later when it’s already an event.”

Layman cited situations with the City of Rawlins—the catastrophic water failure in 2022 and a cyberattack in 2024—in which he was brought in early on and helped the coordination and communication.

“I think the big takeaway is EM typically is not ever the subject matter expert in the incident. We can be the subject matter experts in building the organization so the subject matter experts can focus on the incident and we can build the organization structure around them,” said Layman. “I’m actually appointed by the governor and I report to the board of county commissioners. You can hire me or fire me but I’m appointed by the governor and comes with that is an expectation that he—through Homeland [Security]—should be able to get on the phone and if there’s any issue going on in Carbon County I should at least be aware of the incident.”

Johnson added that Representative Bob Davis (R- Baggs) had introduced House Bill 90 for the 68th Wyoming Legislature in hopes of improving communication breakdowns in the future regarding anthrax.

Under House Bill 90, the Wyoming Livestock Board would “Establish a standard notification protocol to inform livestock producers, veterinarians, brand inspectors and other agencies with jurisdiction or authority regarding anthrax outbreaks in a designated surveillance area within a county where a non-negative anthrax test has been confirmed for any animal. For purposes of this paragraph, "designated surveillance area" means an area within six (6) square miles of where a non-negative anthrax test has been confirmed.’

The bill has been co-sponsored by Representative Daniel Singh (R - Cheyenne) and senators Barry Crago (R - Buffalo) and Larry Hicks (R - Baggs.)

The next meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners will be at 9 a.m. on January 21 at the Carbon Building - Courthouse Annex in Rawlins.