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July 1, 2009

Claremore out: City won’t renew emergency agreement

By Joy Hampton

June 30, 2009 — Claremore will no longer fund its portion of the salary and benefits for the joint position of Rogers County and City of Claremore Director of Emergency Management Bob Anderson. Three sources previously funded Anderson’s office including state, county and Claremore.

Monday, Anderson told county commissioners he has enough operating capital to continue as Rogers County Emergency Management Director for another fiscal year. Anderson will no longer serve as director for Claremore.

“In the interim, Mark Dowler will handle the responsibilities of Emergency Management Director,” City Manager Troy Powell said. “It could be permanent, depending on how much of his time it takes. With his extensive public safety background he is definitely qualified.”

Claremore contributed around $25,000 a year to the cooperative program with the county, according to Powell.

State funding will continue at the same level because funding sources through the federal government is making up the 7 percent difference in the state cut to the upcoming budget year.

Claremore Fire Chief Mark Dowler said the cooperative agreement with the county was one of the last cuts the city made in response to a budget crunch it has faced for the past five months.

“It is a matter of economics,” Mayor Brent Shallenburger said. “It’s not a reflection on Bob Anderson. We’re as lean in the city as we can be.”

Shallenburger said Claremore has been able to avoid the furloughs Tulsa has faced so far and the city had “no choice” but to terminate its agreement with the county.

“Claremore will now operate independently as far as its emergency management,” said Dowler. “It’s required that each city has an emergency manager.”

Other municipalities have emergency managers to maintain storm sirens and determine the activation of such sirens when needed. National Incident Management System (NIMS) compliance is also one of the responsibilities of the EM director.

Counties are also required to have an emergency director. Anderson will still coordinate resources during emergencies. The county director is also the person who requests an emergency declaration from the governor.

“We will still coordinate with the county emergency management director during disasters just as any city does,” said Dowler. “My hope is we will continue to have a good working relationship with Bob. This didn’t have anything to do with performance, it was simply an economic situation.”

“We weren’t unhappy with the partnership with the county at all,” said Powell.

Claremore is currently under a hiring freeze.

“Obviously we have to continue to monitor the economy, but we budgeted for worst-case scenario, so we should be fine,” said Powell. “We started cutting back in November. I don’t see any furloughs or days without pay (for city employees).”

Claremore employs 241 people full-time and 79 part-time. The majority of part-time employees are at the recreation center.

Rogers County is currently number two for disasters in the state, according to Anderson.

A total of eight FEMA checks totaling well over $600,000 in reimbursements were received this month by Rogers County. Those funds were divided among the county districts and included reimbursements for the courthouse flooding remediation.

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