Lincoln County’s civil defense director has agreed to take onmore responsibilities and will be helping the state prepare for anycontingencies.

Clifford Galey was recently elected as the vice president of theMississippi Civil Defense/Emergency Management Association (MCDEMA)during the organization’s annual Partnerships in DisasterPreparedness Conference.

MCDEMA is an association of local and state emergency managersand emergency response personnel throughout Mississippi. Theorganization’s goal is to unify and strengthen emergency managementactivities.

Three elected officers and nine elected district representativesgovern MCDEMA.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and MCDEMA workclosely together to help all counties maximize their ability toplan for, respond to and recover from the effects of an emergencyor disasters in the state, Galey said.

“We deal with a lot of issues for emergency management at thelocal level,” he said.

As part of his responsibilities, Galey said he will likelytravel to Washington, D.C., later this year.

As a district representative, he made three trips to Washingtonin the past three years lobbying congressmen “to impress upon themhow important this funding is to us,” he said.

The federal government is considering cutting the funding tolocal emergency management agencies, he said.

Galey, who has been with MCDEMA for more than 10 years, said hisposition as vice president is voluntary and not a paid office.

Tracy Floyd, Adams County’s executive assistant, will representDistrict Nine, which includes the local area.

Kent Buckley, Bolivar County’s civil defense director, was namedpresident of association while Beth Johnson, Forrest County’sdeputy director, was named treasurer. Richard Coghlan, PikeCounty’s civil defense director, is the past president.