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Lincoln County Emergency Management Director Don Gilliam, right, shakes hands with Judge-Executive Jim Adams after Adams acknowledged Gilliam's "Most Improved Program" award Tuesday. (Ben Kleppinger / ben@theinteriorjournal.com / September 12, 2012) |
STANFORD — Lincoln County's Emergency Management Agency has been named the most improved program in the state by the Kentucky Emergency Management Association.
Garrard County Emergency Management Director Wendell Hatfield said he nominated Lincoln Emergency Management Director Don Gilliam for the honor because "he's grabbed the bull by the horns and he's got the program going in the right direction."
Gilliam said since he took over as EM director 18 months ago, he's made many changes, including improving monitoring of hazardous materials stored in Lincoln County and reorganizing the county's search and rescue team.
Gilliam said he now has Lincoln's local emergency planning committee meeting once month, instead of the previous schedule of three times a year. The committee is in the process of rewriting and updating Lincoln's Emergency Operations Plan and Gilliam expects it to be completed this month.
Gilliam said he still works every day to better prepare Lincoln County for emergency situations and there are more improvements to be made.
For example, Gilliam said he is looking into the possibility of a reverse-911 alert system for Lincoln County that could alert people via phone, email or text message.
Gilliam’s achievement was acknowledged Monday during a Bluegrass 911 board meeting and during Tuesday morning’s Lincoln County Fiscal Court meeting.
