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Fire Chief Brady Rigdon (left) and Emergency Management Director Tim Cooper (right). Photos by Marissa Mahoney/News-Leader.
On Monday morning, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) met for a special meeting to discuss extending the local state of emergency currently placed on Nassau County in response to Hurricane Ian.
County Manager Taco Pope explained the reasoning behind this resolution to continue the local state of emergency – first enacted on Sept. 26 – for another seven days to Monday, Oct. 10.
“An incident has multiple phases. Part of the phase is we're in now is recovery and then closeout. Currently, we are still in the recovery phase,” Pope said. “To give you an example: some of the activities that are currently ongoing are inspection of roadside ditches, drain facilities, bridges and things of that nature. We also are still managing certain areas that have additional debris.”
Pope also mentioned that Assistant County Manager Marshall Eyerman is working closely with the local emergency management department to secure reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“There are a number of activities that will continue to take place over the coming weeks that necessitate the local state of emergency to remain in place,” Pope added.
District 1 Commissioner John Martin asked if the BOCC would need to possibly continue the local state of emergency even longer if there’s still work to be done.
Pope said he will likely request extending the emergency status at the next BOCC meeting on Oct. 10, as well. He added they will reassess if the county needs to go beyond Oct. 17.
With that, the county commission unanimously voted to keep the local state of emergency in effect until next Monday.
Director of Emergency Management Tim Cooper spoke next to echo the county manager’s status update and offer further explanation for giving the emergency status more time.
“Even though we're done with the emergent response phase, it is important for us to keep that local state of emergency to make sure that we're getting reimbursement as needed,” Cooper said. “We had some electrical spikes, so the county's already out. That's something that if we go ahead and close this down now and if we end up having to replace those air conditions or air conditioned units, we wouldn't be able to get reimbursed on that money.”
He added, “It is important for us to keep this local state of emergency for recovery and responsibility to our citizens.”
Cooper took a moment to applaud the efforts of One Nassau – an initiative helmed by Emergency Management to coordinate with departments like the county manager, fire rescue and the sheriff’s office to protect Nassau County from disasters.
“I think we had 92 people at the maximum. We can't do that with a staff of five. It takes ‘One Nassau’ to get everything done. My hats off to them for the job that they did,” Cooper said.
Nassau County Fire Chief Brady Rigdon also spoke at the podium on Monday morning to express gratitude for the men and women in the field during Hurricane Ian.
“We were kind of the organizing factor, but the men and women out in the field are really what made it happen. They were ready. They were on standby,” Rigdon said. “I just wanted to make note of the people out there in the field. All those extra units that we put in service – that kind of thing – they're the ones who really made it tick.”
mmahoney@fbnewsleader.com
