Newly appointed Marshall County Emergency Management Agency Director Jack Garner presented his first quarterly report to the County Commissioners on Monday.
Garner said, with just his first quarter on the job he has responded to 7 incidents or responses including severe weather events, an accidental siren activation in Plymouth on July 22nd, extreme heat, and an accident in Argos where a semi-hauling trash collided with a train. He said there hadn’t been anything since the August 3rd accident.
The new EMA Director said the county is on track with the Emergency Management Performance Grant that reimburses the county 50% of the director’s salary.
Garner has been diligently working to get the necessary training required for his position. While he has a year to complete the various training courses he anticipates being finished by the end of the year. He attended the 3-day ICS 300 and the 2-day ISC 400 courses in Warsaw and received his certification. He also has completed the FEMA online course of 100,120,130, 200, 230, 700, 800, and 1300.
The new EMA Director is working to increase the community outreach for the EMA office. He’s created a Facebook page and Twitter page which is now X and uses them to post regular updates.
Jack Garner has been out meeting lots of people and attending training and meetings. He attended the IN Dept. of Homeland Security District 2 quarterly meeting in Fulton County, participated virtually in Indiana’s 2024 State Solar Eclipse Planning meeting, attended the Amateur Radio Emergency Services meeting, and the Yellow River Flood Risk Preparation and Response Workshop. Garner met with a representative of IDHS to review the county’s Threat and Hazard Identification Risk Assessment, Stakeholder Preparedness Review, and more. He has attended or participated in more than a dozen other meetings.
The new EMA Director also learned how to use the Marshall County App to send EMA-related push notifications and converted the Word document of incidents into an Excel sheet to allow for detailed searching.
