Mahaska County Emergency Management moves into a full time status
Jamey Robinson seen replacing a non-functional emergency weather radio at the Oskaloosa Christian School. Just one of the many things an Emergency Manager helps to take care of.
Mahaska County Emergency Manager Jamey Robinson has had his current position officially funded as full time. Jameys job provides the services needed to help residents be more prepared for disasters.
Mahaska County Sheriff, Paul DeGeest, announced the boards intention to fund the position recently. DeGeest speaks highly of the job Robinson has done since taking over the position. “He does a really good job” states DeGeest. “He takes it to heart.”
The City of Oskaloosa and Mahaska County helped to make this possible by amending their budgets to the commission to provide the funding that is needed for the position. This also provides benefits to the local communities, in larger reimbursements, by having him in that position.
Robinson helped to coordinate the sandbagging during the floods of ’08 and ’10. He also had pallets of bottled water brought in, in the event Oskaloosa lost it’s fresh water.
Robinson, currently a Paramedic with Mahaska Health Partnership, will be transitioning from that full time position to the Emergency Management position in the near future.
Those that are familiar with Robinson are already aware of the large amount of time he was already devoting to Mahaska County, and with his concern for the well being of it’s residents. I got to know Robinson personally during the floods of 2010, and no matter where I went during that time, he was there or had just been there. He was serving those in the county even when his own personal property was being damaged by the flood waters.
CERT is yet another project that has grown under Robinson’s guidance. “The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area. The program also trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations.”
This project has several dozen volunteers in the county that train and prepare to help it’s residents during a time of need. If you are interested you can visit the local emergency management website for more details HERE.
Robinson states this will allow him to do even more for the residents of Mahaska County and to help provide an even higher level of service. It will be easier to coordinate times and meetings, now that this will be his primary employment, versus having to work around scheduling conflicts with his other current commitments.
Robinson still plans to remain a part-time firefighter as well, as that is something he enjoys doing.
You can also join Emergency Management on Facebook HERE
Jamey A. Robinson, CEM
Coordinator/Homeland Security Representative
Mahaska County Emergency Management
214 High Ave East
Oskaloosa, Iowa 52577
Office 641-672-1209
Fax 641-673-2588
ema@mahaskacounty.org
