Houston County Commission Will Make Offer On 2017 and Beyond Emergency Management Director

Rickey Stokes

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Posted by: RStokes
Date: Dec 09 2016 9:20 PM

HOUSTON COUNTY:    The Houston County Commission skipped the Thursday Administrative Meeting. Commissioners Mark Culver, Jackie Battles and Doug Sinquefield were in Montgomery for the Alabama Association of County Commissioners Meeting.

The Commissioners, to include the Houston County trio, voted to support a $ 1.2 billion dollar tax increase in Alabama. That tax increase will come in the form of increasing the amount of tax you pay per gallon of gasoline.

The meeting in Montgomery took precedent over the Houston County Administrative Meeting so it was cancelled.

The members of the Commission has listed on the agenda the making a offer to someone for the Dothan - Houston County Emergency Management Director. In the documentation provided to the public, the commission have not announced who the selection is.

We do not have a definitive accurate count of how many applied for the position of Dothan - Houston County Emergency Management Director. We have UNCONFIRMED been told that 100 applications were received. That Houston County Personnel Director Sheri Thoops on chunked some of those and the final evaluation count was done to 56.

The 5 commissioners then looked at the 56 applications and graded each person and narrowed the field down to 6. Of those 6, only 1 lived in Dothan - Houston County. The others lived in Robertsdale Alabama, in Mississippi, Northpoint Alabama, Prattville Alabama and Lee County Alabama.

NOTE: One of the 6 chosen for interviews placed two applications under two different first names. The 5 members of the Houston County Commission selected him for interviews.

The Commission then selected a panel to interview the candidates. That panel excluded anyone from the law enforcement field. And law enforcement are the first responders to emergency incidents.

The committee consisted of Houston County Commissioner Jackie Battles, Houston County Volunteer Fire Association Chief Dana Watts, Dothan Fire Batallion Chief Pete Webb, a representative from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and a member of Farley Nuclear Plant.

The grades and how the 6 scored has not been released by the Houston County Commission. But 2 have been selected and a decision is expected to be made by 4 of the 5 Houston County Commissioners.

Chairman Culver cannot make a motion of vote unless there is a tie. So the decision rests solely in the hands of Commissioner Brandon Shoupe, Doug Sinquefield, Jackie Battles and . Unless there is a tie vote, Culver does not get to vote.

DOTHAN - HOUSTON COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

This agency was once a premier agency that served the best interest of the citizens of Dothan - Houston County. 

But the last four years have been a disaster. The current leadership and staff have done all possible to destroy the Dothan - Houston County Emergency Management Agency.

So the new director will be required to hit the ground running. He will not officially begin until January 1, 2017.

He will be faced with an almost immediate move from the courthouse to the newly constructed emergency operations center. So while slammed with learning everything, the new EMA Director will have to feel his way around in setting up the emergency center.

So it will be hard work.

The Houston County Commissioners have faith in only 1 of the 56 applicants who lived locally to serve. And we do not know if they have selected that one or will go with a out of town choice.

But whomever selected, they will have to rebuild Dothan - Houston County Emergency Management from ground zero up. That person can not be a failure, because that has been ongoing with the current director and staff.

Prayers for the decisions made by the four voting members of the Houston County Commission.

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