A big part of the Campbell County Emergency Management team’s responsibilities is planning and training for disasters. Not only does the team have to be prepared to handle any disaster countywide but also any incident that they may be dispatched to, such as the devastation in Western Kentucky after the tornado in December 2021.
The Campbell County Emergency Management team consists of OEM Director William Turner, Deputy Director of Operations James Sparks and OEM Deputy Director Greg Buckler. January 2022 marked Turner’s 37th year in the field and Sparks has worked in public safety for 35 years. All members of the team have gone through the Certified Kentucky Emergency Manager Program making them the only team in Kentucky to have all their members certified. In total there are only 15 certified CKEMs in the state.
The Kentucky Emergency Management Association is a Kentucky-based nonprofit corporation established in 1991. The association seeks to develop professionalism among those in emergency management in Kentucky and to provide a forum for discussion of experiences and ideas of its members related to emergency management.
“It’s not an easy process and that was the intent, originally, for the committee was to make sure that it was a process that would check the professionalism of the person applying,” Turner, who is on the CKEM Committee, said. “It’s not a certification that’s there for everyone. A lot of people they’re not going to get in.”
The process of gathering all of the materials to be reviewed alone takes an extensive amount of time.
“The binder I had to submit, so everything they asked for we had to put it in a binder, it had to be in the order the reviewer would look at it, so my binder was about three inches thick,” Sparks said.
Qualifications required to enter the program:
- Four years in Emergency Management
- Candidate must currently be employed in an emergency management position
- Letter from supervisor supporting the candidate
- Formal Education: High School Diploma or equivalent
- Significant role in the design and development of a disaster exercise
- Must have completed both the FEMA Professional Development Series (PDS) and the FEMA Advanced Professional Series (APS).
- Document at least six contributions to the profession; three of which must have been completed in the Commonwealth of Kentucky
- Accumulation of at least 150 points, with no more than 50 points in any one category.
- Signed CKEM Code of Professional Conduct
Even those that meet all the requirements will not qualify for the program. Only those who take extra effort in professionalism will make it. Sparks said the entire process from start to finish took him years to complete.
Once you are granted entry into the program and complete it, you have to go through the recertification process every four years. Turner, who has been through both processes said he found the recertification process even more challenging.
“The issue is after so much training then getting more training on top of that,” Turner said. “It’s something even the recertification committee is discussing as to how to tweak the requirements. It’s hard for me to get the independent study courses because I’ve already done them previously. So how do I do more independent study courses when there’s none to do. But it’s not an easy process, either initially or to recertify.”
Sparks said the training can also require a lot of travel which can deter people from going through it. You need the support of your bosses to be able to build the training and invest time to get everything completed. Turner said it’s something that you’re not going to obtain overnight.
Both Sparks and Turner agree that the program allows you to prosper in the position.
“I think just looking at what it requires and putting all that together gives you a chance to study where you’ve been, what you’ve done and what you need to work on in the future,” Turner said. “So, it’s kind of a roadmap to make yourself more successful in the position.”
