Serving the High Plains
link Curtis Simpson is Quay County’s new emergency manager. He will help coordinate
emergency preparedness activities for the county and assemble the
county’s emergency and hazard mitigation plans.
By Steve Hansen
QCS Managing Editor
To the Boy Scouts of America it’s “be prepared” and to the U.S. Coast Guard it’s “semper peratus,” which means the same thing, and it’s also the motto of Quay County government’s new emergency manager.
Curtis Simpson began his duties Monday as the county’s emergency manager, a job in which he will coordinate emergency preparedness for the county.
Quay County Manager Richard Primrose, Simpson’s supervisor, said Simpson’s main tasks will be related to preparing emergency plans that coordinate the activities of police, fire, emergency medical services, schools, hospitals and other public agencies to assure coordinated response in case of a disaster, such as a tornado.
Simpson will also be in charge of coordinating training and “desk-top” drills, in which agency leaders discuss actions to take and procedures to be follow in an emergency situation.
In addition, Primrose said, Simpson will be in charge of the county’s disaster recovery planning, which will prepare the county to pick up the pieces quickly in the aftermath of a disastrous event.
Simpson said the most important part of the job will be communications. He said he has learned the importance of communications among agencies and departments as a customer service representative in a banking call center.
In addition, he said, information technology coordination will also be an important part of the job. He recently completed an internship in information technology at Mesalands Community College, where he also received an associate’s degree in the field.
Simpson’s starting salary will be $24,960 per year, or $12 an hour, Primrose said. Half of that will come from local funds, he said, and the other half will come from federal Homeland Security grant funds administered through the state.
Simpson said much of the first year of the job will be taken up with training to attain the qualifications and continuing education required of an emergency preparedness manager.
Primrose said the hiring of a n emegergency preparedness manager will also qualify the county to receive more Homeland Security funding for emergency response operations .