Commissioners will consider a resolution on Tuesday on whether to proceed to take control of the EMA, which would begin a 90-day transition period, or to stop the process and continue as is.
Public safety professionals and residents at a special meeting Tuesday questioned why there was a need to change how the EMA operates.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Butler County EMA Director Jim Bolen was the last of about two dozen people who spoke against the plan. He said rebuilding an emergency management agency “overlooks the value of relationships.”
“Our organization is not great because we’re the highest funded, most educated or most well-trained. We are exceptional because of the relationships we’ve developed over the years,“ he said, later stating, ”This is a solution in search of a problem."
“A major concern that I have (with the presentation) is that it’s not providing the agency with the independence necessary to ensure the resources are equitably shared in time of a disaster, to make sure our smallest communities get the same services as our largest communities,” Bolen said.
Tuesday’s presentation was a single slide, a draft of an organizational chart led by the County Commission, and creating a non-binding advisory committee and a technical advisory subcommittee.
Emil Liszniansky, owner and principal of Envision Group, told the commissioners and audience the work on his study included talking with the commissioners; cities, townships and villages; public safety forces and associations; the EMA representatives; and representatives of health districts and hospitals.
The only recommendations in Liszniansky’s presentation was how to proceed if the commissioners took over. There were no recommendations on whether it should be done or not.
Though no commissioner committed to indicating how they would vote on Tuesday, Dixon said after the meeting that the issue isn’t necessarily the execution of the job during an emergency but rather how the EMA interacts with all other agencies, such as police agencies and specifically the Butler County Sheriff’s Office.
“One way or another, they have to be better,” Dixon said.
He also said there are no checks and balances with the EMA.
“There’s no oversight to speak of day-to-day,” Dixon said, adding that the commissioners can offer support they may not have, including fiscal, legal and other administrative resources.
Many in the room had issues with the commissioners’ voting to potentially dissolve the current county EMA, with just a few days to weigh the merits of the consultant’s findings. They said there are too many unanswered questions, including what happens with the current memorandums of understanding.
“I don’t understand what’s broken?” asked David Oakley, with the IAFF Local 20 in Hamilton. “What is the pressing issue where we need to make a change?”
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Most felt this move would politicize the EMA and the Butler County Sheriff’s Office would be in control. Dixon said the sheriff’s office would not have control of the EMA.
While West Chester Twp. Fire Chief Rick Prinz did express some of the politicizing concerns, he said dissolving the EMA would cause delays, confusion and breakdowns in communication when responding to a fast-moving fire or a natural disaster event.
“Independent EMAs are more effective than when placed under another office, such as the county commissioners or the sheriff,” he said.
Ross Twp. Trustee Russ McGurrin said remaking the EMA into a non-binding advisory board would result in an agency that “would be out of their league.”
“Why trade away a team that’s already a champion,” he said, comparing the current EMA to the 1975 and 1976 world champion Cincinnati Reds. “We have the luxury of the Big Red Machine running the county EMA.”
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