Brandi Harrington was looking for an explanation and a solution.

What she got were excuses and semantics.

Harrington, the director of the nonprofit Starkville Strong, wrote a letter to the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors asking why the county’s Safe Room was opened as a warming center during Winter Storm Fern but was not opened the following weekend when the temperatures again dropped dangerously low. Harrington called for clear criteria for when the facility should open, transparent public communication and coordination with nonprofits that are already working with vulnerable residents.

The responses were beyond disappointing.

Jarvis Boyd, director of Oktibbeha County EMA, said the Safe Room is not intended to serve as a warming shelter but is designed for severe weather events that “threaten infrastructure and public safety.” So cold weather alone, even brutally cold weather, doesn’t qualify.

Say what?

County Administrator Wayne Carpenter also said opening the Safe Room depends on whether or not infrastructure is threatened.

He also referred to a section of Mississippi Code, which says counties cannot perform welfare or social services because those are functions of state agencies.

Carpenter conveniently defined warming centers as social services rather than emergency services. If ever there were a distinction without a difference, this is it.

Is cold weather a welfare issue or an emergency issue? Reason dictates it is the latter.

There is nothing to prevent the county from calling these situations emergencies. It’s the county’s decision and the county should own it rather than blame Mississippi Code.

One point should be clear: The primary decision about when the Safe Room opens is the potential threat to human lives, not infrastructure.

Likewise, saying the Safe Room wasn’t intended as a general emergency center is contrary to how it was described when the county committed to building it. It’s simply a dodge.

The unadulterated fact is that the county owns the Safe Room, and it can call it anything it wants and use it however it suits them. There are no constraints placed on them other than the ones they arbitrarily impose on themselves.

The right thing for the county to do would be to sit down with stakeholders and put together a simple, reasonable and clearly-stated Safe Room policy that focuses on saving lives above any other consideration.

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.