Brazos County has a new emergency management coordinator. Shannon Covey moved here from Arizona, where she spent more than 20 years in various emergency management positions in the public and private sector. Covey takes over for Michele Bailey-Meade, who retired after nine years as emergency coordinator as part of 40 years in various public safety positions in Brazos County. During Tuesday’s county commission meeting (September 17), the hiring process was explained by retired sheriff’s chief deputy Jim Stewart, who headed the search committee as an employee of the county judge’s office.
Click below to hear Jim Stewart’s comments at the September 17, 2024 Brazos County commission meeting.
The College Station fire department receives more federal money to hire more employees. The nearly $4 million dollar grant will pay for 12 firefighters for the first three years of the city’s seventh fire station. Construction is scheduled to begin early next year on Greens Prairie Road between Wyndham Ranch Road and Sweetwater Drive. Two years ago, CSFD received almost $2 million dollars to hire seven firefighters. And the same grant program paid for six new positions in 2018.
The president of the Bryan firefighters union has been appointed to the Texas commission on fire protection. A news release from the governor’s office says the commission develops and enforces fire service standards and provides education and assistance to the industry. Daniel Buford, who lives in Montgomery, is a BFD lieutenant. He was appointed to serve on the fire commission through February of 2029.
News release from Brazos County about the hiring of a new emergency management coordinator:
Brazos County Judge Duane Peters is happy to announce Shannon Covey (KOH-vee) has started her new position as the Brazos County Emergency Management Coordinator.
Shannon has worked in emergency management for 20-plus years, most recently as an Emergency Management Coordinator for Valleywise Health in Phoenix, Arizona. Before working at Valleywise Health, Shannon was employed by the Arizona Department of Emergency & Military Affairs as an Emergency Services Program Coordinator working with both the private and non-profit sector to assist communities in the recovery process following disasters.
“I am passionate about training and equipping individuals with the knowledge and tools to prepare, mitigate, respond and recover from inevitable disasters,” she says.
Shannon has a master’s degree in Emergency Management and Homeland Security Leadership, and is a certified Community Emergency Response Team (C.E.R.T.) professional. She and her husband of 24 years have two children, and are looking forward to embracing the Texas culture and way of life here in Brazos County.
News release from the city of College Station about the federal grant hiring 12 firefighters:
The College Station Fire Department has been awarded a $3.87 million federal grant under the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program to fully fund 12 firefighters for three years at the new Fire Station No.7. The City Council will officially accept the grant award at its Sept. 26 meeting Thursday night.
The grant award is the largest federal grant ever received by the CSFD. Construction on the new station at 2981 Greens Prairie Road will begin in early 2025 and is expected to be completed by the fall of 2026. Voters approved the project as part of the 2022 bond election.
“We are excited to be awarded the SAFER grant as a mechanism to begin to build the staffing of the department as we move toward adding Station 7,” CSFD Fire Chief Richard Mann said. “The SAFER program allows us a critical transition period to use federal funding to meet the fire service staffing needs.”
CSFD plans to begin recruiting this fall and hiring firefighters in the spring to meet the grant requirements. Applications will be considered for fully, partially, and non-certified candidates.
The grant will fully fund the firefighters’ salaries and benefits through the three-year grant performance period as the first phase of staffing requirements.
News release from the governor’s office about a Bryan firefighter’s appointment to the state commission on fire protection:
Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Daniel Buford to the Texas Commission on Fire Protection for a term set to expire on February 1, 2029. The Commission develops and enforces statewide fire service standards and provides education and assistance to the industry.
Daniel Buford of Montgomery is a lieutenant of the Bryan Fire Department and previously served as a lieutenant for the Northeast Volunteer Fire Department. He is president of the Bryan Fire Fighters Association and district service representative of the International Association of Fire Fighters. Additionally, he is a member of the Texas State Association of Fire Fighters and former vice president of the Village Professional Fire Fighters Association. Buford received an Associate of Applied Science in Fire Science from Lonestar Community College.