By By Fredie Carmichael / staff writer
April 22, 2004
Meridian Homeland Security Director H.C. "Bunky" Partridge has hired two people to work for the Meridian/Lauderdale County Regional Response Team which represents a nine-county area.
Eddie Ivy, the former emergency management agency director for Lauderdale and Clarke counties, is now training coordinator of the response team.
Karen Blackwood of Pensacola, Fla., who is completing a master's degree in public administration with an emphasis in national security, has been hired as the planner.
Partridge said the $35,000 salary for both new employees will be funded through a federal grant. He said both employees will hold offices at the city's training center on Sandflat Road.
Partridge said Ivy and Blackwood will be key in helping the city's training center become a "hub of training in this region."
Partridge said Blackwood was a perfect fit for the job as planner. Blackwood said she's been on the job for about seven weeks and is already busy.
Partridge was named to head the Meridian/Lauderdale County Regional Response Team last year before he retired as Meridian's fire chief and became the city's director of homeland security.
Meridian city councilmen and Lauderdale County supervisors signed the Statewide Mutual Aid Compact last year to form the response team.
The statewide compact is an agreement between the state, counties and/or cities that allows the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency to assist other counties and/or cities affected by natural or manmade disasters.
The compact enables MEMA to ask non-affected jurisdictions to assist with equipment and manpower to the counties needing aid. It addresses the issues of liability, compensation, supervision and reimbursement in one standard, legally approved document.