Each year we recognize an individual who has demonstrated excellence and commitment in service to their town as the Emergency Management Director of the Year.
The Emergency Management Director (EMD) is an appointed individual in each town or city who has direct responsibility for the organization, administration, and coordination of local emergency management. This job has become more and more challenging over the years and those who serve as EMDs are vital and much appreciated.
This year's Vermont Emergency Management Director of the Year is Nick Emlen of Calais.
The person who nominated Nick wrote: ‘What makes Nick Emlen worthy of Emergency Management Director of the Year is that he is building a model of emergency management that can function whether or not he is able to be there. He’s pulled together a team of 15 that meet on a regular basis and this team has done lots of work with the July 2023 flood. Outside of the most recently flooding, they are working hard on continuity of operations – including recently acquiring HAM radios to help with communication during long term power outages. This nomination speaks to both operations during the last year, as well as long term planning for the position to not function as a single point of failure.”
Congratulations Nick on being the Vermont Emergency Management Director of the Year for 2023.