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Kelsey Siegler is new county emergency manager

By Staff | Apr 23, 2012

The Pierce County Commission met in special session on Tuesday, April 17 to interview Kelsey Siegler for the position of Pierce County Emergency Manager.

They had earlier made the decision to take those duties off the back of Sheriff Matt Lunde who had been temporarily appointed to the emergency manager position when he was elected sheriff. In the case of a major disaster or emergency, Lunde would be very busy with his duties as county sheriff. The commissioners said it is better to have a separate person for emergency manager.

The commissioners voted unanimously to hire Siegler at $400/month with an immediate start date. Commissioner Rick Larson was absent and not voting.

Siegler told the commissioners she would begin by updating contact information, making a list of current open roads and notate which are closed. This list would be updated as more roads opened or closed. Copies will be provided to the fire department, ambulance service and dispatch at LEC. She also intends to keep current emergency forms on hand.

Siegler is a dispatcher at the law enforcement center and would set up a plan to replace herself as dispatcher if a major emergency occurred. As dispatcher for over three years, and having a medical background as both a nurse’s aide and as an emergency medical technician, she brings valuable experience to the job.

She requested that she attend training for grant writing and then would keep current on and write for available grants.

If Pierce County has a major disaster, tornado, flood, evacuation, etc., Siegler will be in charge of coordinating all of the emergency entities who respond to the problem. In the meantime, she will be kept busy organizing an emergency preparedness plan for the county, meeting with emergency officials, law enforcement and the fire department.

Siegler plans to meet with and provide training for storm spotters and first responders of the county. She hopes to increase the number of first responders in the county over time.

She said she is looking forward to working for Pierce County as its emergency manager.