Mizell Resigns As County EMD; Simmerly Tabbed For City Role

Lesa Mizell has officially resigned as Crawford County’s emergency management director, per a letter submitted at the May 9 commission meeting.

Meanwhile, the city of Bourbon has brought aboard newly-elected fire board member Dan Simmerly as its new EMD.

He was sworn in Friday.

County

District 2 Commissioner Jared Boast read Mizell’s letter.

Mizell discussed how hard the county had worked the last several years, which included flooding in 2016 and 2017, along with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The emergency management director coordinates with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) in the event of a disaster.

The EMD is paid on a retainer basis and receives additional money for work they perform in a disaster situation.

The most recent declared disaster was in May 2017, when the county was hit by flooding.

The EMD works with the agencies to get reimbursements for recovery efforts.

Boast had been acting as the interim EMD in Mizell’s absence as she dealt with personal issues. 

During the April 18 meeting, Boast said that the county needed to look into finding a permanent EMD, especially after tornadoes touched down in the nearby areas.

Commissioners discussed a new EMD over the following weeks, but Boast said May 9 that he has been in contact with Coroner Darren Dake over a potential deputy coroner taking over the position.

Boast said that when the county purchased the former Three Rivers Publishing building in Cuba, that it gave them adequate office space for an EMD.

“The person (Dake) is looking at (for deputy coroner) has the qualifications and training required for an EMD,” Boast said. “This person would potentially be a good fit.”

Presiding Commissioner Steve Black asked if this person would be an addition or a replacement in Dake’s office.

Boast said he felt it was more of a replacement.

City

During the April 18 meeting, Mayor Dave Lafferty said he would be reaching out to Simmerly, who had just been sworn to the Bourbon Fire Protection District’s board of directors.

Simmerly was sworn in last week, filling a position that was held by former Fire Chief Daniel Whatley and essentially vacant for the last several years.

During the council’s March 21 meeting, Ward 2 Alderwoman Mary Heywood said the city needed to find an EMD, otherwise they lacked the ability to apply for disaster funding through FEMA and SEMA.

When Heywood suggested that the ideal candidate was a firefighter, the city decided to wait until after the April 4 election between Simmerly and Miranda Falloon.

The Independent News asked the council during the April 18 if more consideration had been given to the position and members agreed that they had someone in mind.

That’s when Lafferty said he would be reaching out to Simmerly.