Outstanding Service Award

Nominees

• Susan Aaron, Republic County Emergency Management
• Claire Canaan, Johnson County Emergency Management
• Ann Houk, Sedgwick County LEPC
• Morgan Hunter, Barber County Emergency Management
• Greater Kansas Area Chapter of American Red Cross

Winner: Claire Canaan, KCEM

Claire was instrumental in putting together the Emergency Management Institute course delivery for the Integrated Emergency  Management Course. Claire organized 74 people from across Johnson County government and NGO's to attend this four day course, and worked with the EMI Exercise Coordinator during the site visit to Johnson County.

She worked tirelessly on making sure all flights were booked, everyone had the necessary materials and assigned duties to her other counterparts at Johnson County Emergency Management as needed.

Winner: Morgan Hunter, KCEM

Morgan has been instrumental in helping the metro counties understand and utilize the Orion software. He took the time to understand what that system can and cannot do and is extremely skilled delivering Damage Assessment training for the users.

He also took the initiative to learn IPAWS Message Design Dashboard and has educated others on how to utilize the tool. He is creating messages ahead of time to be more efficient sending messages out to the public.

Morgan helped Claire Canaan with the Integrated Emergency Management Course by teaching a course section, and assisted players within the exercise portion.

Leon H. Mannell OUTSTANDING EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SUPPORT PROFESSIONAL AWARD

Nominees

• Jerry Lynch, AT&T FirstNet
• Angela Murphy, High Caliber Communications Solutions
• Nicole Perez, Barber County Emergency Management

Winner: Nicole Perez, Barber County Emergency Management

Nicole displays an extremely positive attitude and has fostered strong working relationships with individuals at every level within the county. The fact is Nicole rarely finds herself in difficult situations with coworkers, which is indicative of how well she works with others. She has adopted a team-oriented approach and possesses a strong understanding of emergency management by consistently taking classes on her own time, comes in on her days off without anyone asking her, and quietly works behind the scenes.

Some of Nicole’s key accomplishments for Barber County have been taking on the task of Everbridge manager, Slack, weather radar, public information on the county Facebook page, CRMCS, and many others. She is a strong member of the Department’s social media team and does an exceptional job of both communicating with the public and enhancing the image of the Department.

COL MAHLON G. WEED OUTSTANDING NEW EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL AWARD 

Nominees

• Steve Baum, Wichita County Emergency Management
• Erica Cordell, Elk County Emergency Management

Winner:  Steve Baum, Wichita County Emergency Management 

In a little over a year Steve has Brought the county emergency operations plans up to date, and is working feverishly to complete the requirements for his KCEM

Steve has developed strong working relationships with key partners, and neighboring emergency managers, participated in several exercises, managed high-hazard incidents within his county, and is very active on the Southwest Kansas Homeland Security Committee.

Steve is not afraid to reach out to ask questions, and work towards implementing best practices.

Owen U. Turrentine EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR AWARD

Nominees

• Rex Beemer, KCEM, Ford County Emergency Management
• Jennifer Merrow, KCEM, Pottawatomie County Emergency Management
• James Quillen, KCEM, Cloud County Emergency Management

Winner: Jennifer Merrow, KCEM, Pottawatomie County Emergency Management 

On April 30, 2024, an EF-3 tornado struck the small community of Westmoreland. Jennifer was able to make sure the storm sirens were sounded quickly, her diligence in getting those sirens set off potentially saved lives. She also made sure unified command was established, immediately worked on needed resources, was able to get maps for responders to use for tracking the primary and secondary searches of the affected area.

Jennifer was also an integral part of the Burklund Wildfire response that took place in April. She was present to quickly order aircraft and get the declaration from the Pott CO BOCC. During those next few days Jennifer worked hard to make sure the firefighters had the food and water they needed as well as additional firefighting resources that were ordered through KDEM.

Randy reinecker instructor of the year

Nominees

• Vaughn Lorenson & Don Button
• KDEM Instructors: Ron Brown, Don Button, Vaughn Lorenson, Brian Stone

Vaughn Lorenson & Don Button 

Vaughn and Don, AKA the VD group has taught classes all over the state over the years. The two work very well together, it’s like they are one. Their unique way of teaching and explaining things is remarkable. They can teach at a lower level so new students can understand or at a higher level for senior students. Every question is a good question, “if you are asking the question then there are others that have the same question”.

This past year they have spent a lot of time in the WOW area of Kansas, West of Wanamaker. They have taught an impressive 144 hours to help new upcoming leaders know the ways of emergency management.