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Columbia County lawmakers vote to make Emergency Management Office its own department

Jan 05, 2022 6:00 am

Natasha Vaughn-Holdridge is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the Columbia County Emergency Management Office is no longer a part of the sheriff’s office. The Columbia County Board of Supervisors January 3, approved a resolution transitioning the EMO from a department under the control of the county sheriff’s office to an independent agency. That organizational structure had been effect since the EMO was established in 2011. The vote this week now puts the office under the control of Board of Supervisors Chairman Matt Murrell. “We did have several meetings with the sheriff-elect,” the Stockport Republican Murell said. “And we did have discussions to try to answer everyone’s questions. That was a month-and-a-half that we delayed this.” The timing of the resolution coming so close to the election of new sheriff Donald Krapf drew the concern of several supervisors. Supervisors took a roll-call vote on the resolution. The resolution passed using the board's weighted vote provision, and is based on the population of each municipality. According to the weighted points scale, the resolution carried, with the final tally, 2,191 in favor, and 1,344 against. According to Roger Hannigan Gilson, writing in the Times Union, Krapf, a Democrat, is opposed to the change. "I'm still in opposition to that move, and that will continue until the end of time," Krapf said after the vote. "I don’t have enough data here to support it, and I haven't been afforded the opportunity to review any data — today’s literally my first business day in office." Krapf said his office would be following up to determine if there are "...any violations about how this was done." he said. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.

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