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A Whirlwind of a Start Emergency management coordinator talks first six months.
By Samuel Sutton
Standard-Radio Post reporter
It’s only been just over six months, but Fredericksburg and Gillespie County’s new Emergency Management Coordinator has already attained an immense amount of experience. From continuing to work through the COVID-19 pandemic and helping keep the community safe during an unprecedented February winter storm, Justin Calhoun has quickly learned how to protect the people he serves.
In just over six months, city and county Emergency Management Coordinator Justin Calhoun has learned a lot by ensuring safety during Winter Storm Uri and COVID-19. — StandardRadio Post/Samuel Sutton
Talking about his duties during the storm, Calhoun said he worked with Fredericksburg Fire Chief Lynn Bizzell and EMS Director David Jung to make welfare checks and he worked with Central Texas Electric Cooperative and city departments to ensure utilities stayed on. “It was definitely hectic and there was a lot going on initially,” he said. “We eventually got a routine on dealing with the situation each day. It did get better.” Calhoun added his team is still working on recovery from the storm. “Krista, from finance, and the county finance department are still working with (Federal Emergency
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Management Agency) to recover some funds during that time,” he said. “We worked really hard on it for probably a month to a month-and-ahalf, and afterwards, I wouldn’t say every day, but a lot of time spent on that.” The team worked on an After-Action Report, which was published in the April 28 edition of the Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post, showing their performance, what they learned and what they’re working on to be better moving forward. “We’re working on making some adjustments to the Emergency Operations Plan and the annexes that go with that, and we’re also looking at some things that can be fixed in the budget process,” Calhoun said. “The city and the county are in the budget process right now, so we’re working on some of those items to improve our response moving forward.” While it was scary at times, Calhoun said his team is fortunate to have learned the lessons they did in such a short time. “With me being new, I got to meet a whole lot of people in a very short time and that’s going to help us moving forward, now that I’ve made those connections,” he said.
7/26/21 5:06 PM
