Chester Names 2013 OEM Coordinator and Deputy

The thinking in Chester Township tends to be if it isn’t broke, then don’t fix it. And when it comes to the leadership in the township’s office of emergency management, the decision was unanimous to confirm Sgt. Ryan McNamee and Cpl. Chris Cavanagh to 2013 appointments as Coordinator and Deputy Coordinator respectively.

“They have done an excellent job,” said Council President Karen Powell.

The annual appointment was passed unanimously at Tuesday’s meeting of the Chester Township Mayor and Council.

“They really have done well in those roles,” Mayor Bill Cogger said. “Especially during Sandy. Ryan and Chris it seemed were always on. I don’t think they slept. Whenever I needed information and I called one of them answered.”

Cogger and Powell plan to meet with McNamee and Cavanagh to flesh out a comprehensive disaster plan for Chester Township.

“We need to look at all this stuff at once to have an understanding of what we should and shouldn’t do. For example we can have an overnight center for residents that isn’t Red Cross certified but you need to have certain management in place,” Cogger said. “And I am not saying I want to do that, but we should look at all the options.”

Cogger said that there are things the Township didn’t know about during Sandy that they would like to take advantage of going forward.

“During Sandy there were hundreds of meals that could have been picked up if we knew to go pick them up,” Cogger said. “But whether it is food or water or ice, we need to find out how to plug into all of that.”