The Federal Emergency Management Agency will put a representative in Anniston to ease communications between the agency and the Calhoun County Commission about the area's readiness in the event of a chemical accident at the Anniston Army Depot."By having a person there on a daily basis we'll have a better feel for where the county's concerns actually are," said Dan Civis, head of the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program for FEMA.
The county and FEMA have been at odds over the region's emergency preparedness and last month the General Accounting Office said the agency had to take a leadership role in communicating with the county and resolving the issues. Placing a FEMA liaison will help meet that goal, Civis said.
Don Cornell, an Oxford resident who has worked for FEMA for the past seven years, will serve as the agency's liaison. He has worked in the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program and most recently in the Radiological Emergency Preparedness Program for communities surrounding nuclear power plants in Georgia and Alabama.
Cornell said his duties have yet to be exactly defined although he would be addressing the county's safety checklist as well as the concerns raised in the GAO report.
Cornell has not yet met with the Calhoun County Commission. Randy Wood, chairman of the commission, said Cornell's appointment was "definitely a step in the right direction."
Wood said he hoped the move was a concerted effort by FEMA to resolve the outstanding safety issues and not just bureaucratic posturing by the agency.
Civis said Cornell will spend much of his time addressing the needs of the elderly and special populations who may not be able to care for themselves in the event of a chemical weapons accident at the depot.
Cornell also will work with the other five counties involved in the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program as well as address the concerns of civic groups other than the county commission, Civis said.
Cornell will begin working in Anniston in the next few weeks although an exact start date has not been set.
