Marshall County EMA Director Clyde Avery says all agencies need to be active participants in implementing their portion of the County Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan when there is an emergency or disaster.
Avery explained to the Marshall County Commissioners Monday morning that there have been discussions among EMA Advisory Council members about making changes to the emergency support function within the plan.
“Regrettably, we’ve run into some problems in the past with being able to get, specifically, the emergency support function 13 which is law enforcement and public safety, the primary coordinating agency, to get engaged with us and coordinate with the elected officials and the other departments that are active when we have those disasters occur.”
After much discussion, Avery said the plan will be left as it is for 2022 at this point, which required no further action by the commissioners.
Commission President Kevin Overmyer asked about the lack of participation of the Sheriff’s Department and Avery said other changes have been made because of this.
Avery added, “It got to the point that we actually had to rewrite our travel advisory ordinance and eliminate the Sheriff’s Department from that decision making matrix and now it falls back to the Highway Department and EMA Director to work to determine what recommendation we’re going to make to the commissioners regarding travel on the unincorporated roads in the county.”
He noted that all coordinating agencies in the plan are essential and it can be a “hindrance” if not all agencies participate.
