New Anderson County Sheriff Wes McClain has an idea. He would like to group the county’s Emergency Management Department under the Sheriff’s department while keeping the county’s rural fire operations as a separate entity. He presented the idea to county commissioners recently and had Miami County Sheriff, Frank Kelly, come in to explain how a similar arrangement in his county has worked far better organizationally than a previous arrangement similar to the one used by Anderson County. Kelly says the system has been in place in Miami County since 1995, when they revised their management to it’s current form. The sheriff’s department staffs a deputy whose primary responsibility is emergency management and coordination with other responder agencies who report to the sheriff. Kelly says he believed the Miami County system had the advantage that an elected sheriff was more directly accountable to county residents than a hired director of an independent department.
Commissioners made no decision on McClain’s proposal and said they planned to continue exploring options to reorganize the emergency management department in an upcoming meeting with former EM Director J. D. Mersman.
