Emergency management: county seeks to refill duty-officer role; recruiting challenge noted

The county’s emergency-management representative told commissioners that a longtime duty officer, Bob Burbage, has retired and that staff submitted documentation to refill the position.

Staff explained the duty-officer role requires specific qualifications (access to the IPAWS emergency alert system, National Incident Management System training, incident-command experience and familiarity with county notification procedures) and noted the role is typically a two-week on-call commitment. The department said it will rotate staff on the roster while the recruitment proceeds and that market conditions make it a challenging time to recruit experienced emergency managers.

Staff asked for the commission’s consent to post and recruit for the vacancy; commissioners expressed support and discussed outreach to potential candidates.

Ending: Staff will post the vacancy and continue recruitment; in the interim county staff will rotate duty-officer coverage to reduce single-person on-call burdens.