By VICKI BROWN
Colleton County has been named the “most improved” county for risk management and safety by the South Carolina Counties Workers’ Compensation Trust (SCCWCT).
The announcement about the county receiving this award was made during a recent June 1st Colleton County Council meeting. In this meeting, county council learned of Colleton County receiving three awards from the SCCWCT, including Most Improved. Colleton also received the SCCWCT Lag Time Award, due to the county’s lowest average claims reporting time in the Workers’ Compensation Trust, and the SCCWCT Experience Modifier Award for Colleton having the lowest experience modifier in the Workers’ Compensation Trust.
During its meeting, council also noted that Colleton County was also recently awarded the South Carolina Emergency Management Association (SCEMA) Agency of the Year Award in April: SCEMA is the premier Emergency Management organization in the state of South Carolina providing professional development and the only state-level emergency management certification in South Carolina to emergency management personnel in all 46 counties.
Of all the counties within the state, Colleton County Fire-Rescue’s Emergency Management Division (SCEMD) was selected for Agency of the Year. The county’s Emergency Division serves as the emergency management authority for Colleton County; however, there are a multitude of emergency support function partner agencies that assist during emergencies and disasters.
SCEMD support partners who deserve recognition for this award are:
Colleton County Council
Steven D. Murdaugh, Chairman; Dr. Joe Flowers; Phillip M. Taylor, Sr.; Gene Whetsell; and Art Williams.
Colleton County Administration
J. Kevin Griffin, County Manager; Meagan Utsey; Jon Carpenter; Karen Waters; Bill Young, City of Walterboro Mayor; Jeff Molinari, City Manager; and Hank Amundson.
Town of Edisto Beach
Jane Darby, Mayor; Iris Hill; Crawford Moore; and Mark Aakhus.
SCEMD
Rocky Tucker, Eric Turner, Kim Shiverdecker, Kim Stenson, Steven Batson, Mike Russell, Guy Gierhart, Melissa Potter, Emily Bentley, Derrec Becker, Brannon Davis, Tim Murphy, Dave Perry, Stan Parker, Gabe Turner, Charlie Kaufman, Louis Walter, Rob Burton, Andrew Phillips, Rachel McCaster, Megan Wood, Erika Woods, Deborah Dawson, Katie Norris, Sam Carr, Ellison Smith, Meredith Bums, Candice Shealey, Charlotte Foster, and all state Warning Point, Operators.
Colleton County Fire-Rescue
Commission Chair Lavern Polk, Commission Vice-Chair Scooter Drew, Commissioner Jerry Breland, Commissioner Clyde Capers, Commissioner Mark Farish, Chief Barry McRoy, Assistant Chief Marty Stallings, Battalion Chief Joey Campbell, Battalion Chief Scott Feather, Battalion Chief Mikey Banks, Battalion Chief Scottie O’Quinn, Battalion Chief Brent Dalton, Battalion Chief Chris Jones, Captain Janet Laney, Captain Roger Johnston, Captain Mike Rohaus, Adrienne Stokes, and all Fire-Rescue career, volunteer, and administrative staff.
ESF-1 (Transportation)
Cliff Warren, Gary Bradley, William Sutton, Kenny Blakeney, Deneya Dingle, Michael Thomas, Colleton County School District Bus Drivers and School Nurses, Tara Glover and LCAA staff.
ESF-2 (Communications)
Captain Angela Stallings, Lieutenant Amanda Murdaugh, Colleton County Sheriffs Office Dispatchers, Eric Avant and the Colleton County Information/Technology Department staff David Sauls.
ESF-3 (Public Works and Engineering)
Carla Harvey
Bill Washington and all Colleton County Public Works personnel,
Adam Bishop, Lynda Mclaine, Jennifer Irwin and all SCOOT personnel, Johnny Bartley and all Colleton County Solid Waste personnel.
ESF-4 (Fire)
Chief Paul Seigler, Chief Denny Conley and Tim Wojcik.
ESF-5 (Planning)
Ron Morales and National Weather Service - Charleston staff
ESF-6 (Mass Care)
Sandy Polk and the Colleton DSS Staff, Brittany Rubin and the American Red Cross staff.
ESF-8 (Medical)
Ashley Jackson and all Colleton Medical Center staff, Raymond Barteet, Laura Davis, Diane Fox and all SCDHEC staff, Kim Brunson, Matt Morris and MedTrans staff, Richard Harvey and Colleton County Coroner’s office staff, Letisha Scotland and all LCOG staff.
ESF-11 (Food Services)
Ellen Fitch and Colleton County School District Food Services staff, and Krissy Worden.
ESF-12 (Energy)
Mark Walling, Matthew Bryan, James Bum, and Kevin Still.
ESF-13 (Law Enforcement)
Sheriff Buddy Hill, Chief Deputy Gene Johnson, Captain Jason Chapman and Colleton County Sheriff’s Office staff, Chief Wade Marvin, Assistant Chief Kevin Martin and Walterboro Police Department staff Chief George Brothers and Edisto Beach Police Department staff, Ryan Neil, Shaun Harley, SLED staff, Ben Thomas, Andrew Godowns, SCDNR staff, Chief Jeffrey Cook and Cottageville Police Department staff.
ESF-14 (Recovery)
Bucky McConnack, Tommy Hill and Colleton County Assessor’s Office staff, Chris Bickley and Long-Tenn Recovery Group members.
ESF-15 (Public Information)
Shalane Lowes
ESF-16 (Emergency Traffic Management)
James Sweatman, Edgar Enxuto and SCHP staff, and SCOPS Director R.G. Woods.
ESF-17 (Animal Services)
Laura Clark, Reggie McNeil and Colleton County Animal Services staff, Dr. Lori Campbell, Dr. Kathryn MacDonald, and Dr. Charlotte Krugler.
ESF-18 (Donated Goods and Volunteer Services)
Colleton County Fire-Rescue Community Emergency Response Team members, Chris Myers and Colleton County Parks and Recreation staff.
ESF-19 (Military Support)
Colonel David Gayle, and Major David Preston.
ESF-24 (Business and Industry)
Heyward Horton, Donna Lamb, April Chaffins, and Michelle Faust.
Others
Gretchen Birt, Neil Baxley, Mario Fonnisano, Jason Patno, George Welch, and Lieutenant Charles Ghent, SLED.
Colleton County Council Chairman Steven Murdaugh said that the award belongs to all of the individuals listed above who work alongside Colleton County Emergency Management Division to protect the citizens of Colleton County, as well as anyone who may not have been specifically mentioned above. Colleton County Council hereby congratulates the Colleton County Emergency Management Division and all of the County’s Emergency Support Function Partners for their hard work and dedication to Colleton County.
