Black Hawk County has completed its search for a new emergency management coordinator.

Mindy Benson will be taking has been named to replace Lorie Glover, who's retiring after 10 years. Benson will begin her duties as Black Hawk County's emergency management coordinator on March 22.

Bensen has served as Tama County's Emergency Management Coordinator for the past seven years. She has been involved in communications, preparedness, providing resources to local first responders, and has assisted in providing training requests from local community groups and first responders during her 20-year career in public safety.

“With her training, experiences, and hands-on responses, she has a great understanding of overall community and county preparedness” said Sheriff Tony Thompson, who serves as commission chairman.

Benson has responded to numerous mutual aid events and natural disasters across the region, including the Derecho that hit Tama County in August.

According to Thompson, Benson's hiring followed an exhaustive search that included several applicants.

Glover is well-known across Iowa as a key leader in the emergency management community, having served on numerous state boards and committees. She has served as District 6 secretery of the Iowa Emergency Management Association (IEMA), has been on the organization's Emergency Management Performance Development Committee, served on the Iowa Flood Mitigation Board and the State Training Exercise Planning Committee (HSEMD STEP-C).

Addtionally, Glover was also an instructor for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Basic Academy and was appointed to the Iowa State Association of Counties legislative committee to represent Iowa EMA interests in 2019.

While serving as EMA Director locally, Glover help stand up the Crisis Event and Recovery Access (CERRA) Nationwide Identification System in Black Hawk County. She also oversaw implementation of the logging and identification program known as the Salamander system, which allows responders to quickly log themselves and equipment into an emergency scene for accountability and posterity reporting. The Salamander system was most recently used for the county's COVID-19 response and for the four month-long search for missing autistic teenager Jake Wilson in La Porte City in 2018.

A retirement/welcome reception for Glover and Benson will be held March 31 from 10 AM-3PM at the Waterloo Fire Training Center, 1925 Newell Street.

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