The go-to man for emergencies in Lincoln County is now one of the go-to men for emergencies across Mississippi.

Lincoln County Emergency Management Director Clifford Galey has been elected to the board of directors for the Mississippi Civil Defense Emergency Management Association, a non-profit group of emergency managers from around Mississippi that seeks to promote, educate and lobby for funding for emergency management programs. Galey’s first duty as a board member will be to coordinate the group’s annual legislative visit to Washington, D.C., which is scheduled for April.

“We’ll meet with our federal elected officials, sit down with them and discuss the federal funding that comes down through (the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency) to the local counties every year, try to make sure no one fools with that money and, if at all possible, get some inAgency) to the local creases,” he said.

Galey said the federal government splits around $350 million with emergency management organizations across the nation each year. In Mississippi, the cash flows through MEMA for 50 percent matching grants for which counties can apply — around one-third of Galey’s $92,000 budget comes from the program.

As Lincoln County’s emergency management director, Galey oversees training, assists other agencies in emergency responses and coordinates the arrival of additional responders and equipment that may be needed during natural disasters, fires, chemical spills or other emergencies. He also serves as the county’s fire coordinator, the local Homeland Security director, safety coordinator and performs fire investigations and code safety reviews in the county.

When two Brookhaven police officers were killed in the line of duty last year, Galey’s office helped coordinate the arrival of out-of-town police to help cover shifts in the city.

His new duties with MCDEMA are really not new it all.

“This is part of what I’ve always done,” Galey said.

Galey will represent District 7, which is comprised of the nine counties that make up Southwest Mississippi — Adams, Amite, Franklin, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lincoln, Pike, Walthall and Wilkinson.

Galey was also recently appointed to the advisory board for the Mississippi State University Extension Service’s Oil and Gas Education Series for Agricultural Producers. In that capacity, he will offer expertise to local farmers who have environmental questions concerning mineral rights.