Regional councillor Hugh Vercoe has been reappointed as the chair of the Waikato Civil Defence Joint Committee. This year also marks a decade for Cr Vercoe in this role.

Taupō district councillor Anna Park has been appointed deputy chair. This year also marks a decade for Cr Park in emergency management, appointed in 2010 to the Taupō Emergency Management committee. She has served as its chair since 2013 when she was also appointed to the Waikato Civil Defence Emergency Management Joint Committee as the delegated representative of Taupō Mayor David Trewavas.

The appointments were made at the committee’s first meeting following the local government elections.

Both Vercoe and Park have actively worked to improve emergency management in the region and are focused on making sure the Waikato is able to deal with any emergency – whether in the Waikato or effects from sources outside the region.

On 22 February 2011, the Christchurch earthquake shook the country and the country’s awareness of what was required for large scale emergency management.

“The relationships from grass roots to central government have been shaken to the core and we have all had to face the fact that emergencies are not a case of ‘if’ but ‘when’,” says Cr Park. “The way we respond, prepare our communities, reduce and mitigate exposure to risk from hazards, and our focus on recovery has been re-evaluated.”

Says Cr Vercoe: “After the Christchurch earthquake, our joint committee and the Coordinating Executive Group chaired by Hauraki District Council CEO Langley Cavers, gained the support of councils, mayors and CEOs and took the responsibility seriously to make massive changes.” *

Over the years, Crs Vercoe and Park have travelled the country and built strong relationships with districts and regions. They’ve also spent hours listening to and learning the lessons from communities’ experiences in times of response, recovery and regeneration.

The joint committee recently appointed a new group manager and controller, Julian Snowball.

“Julian is a former detective chief inspector from a large metropolitan police force in the UK. He has the respect of police and other emergency services, and knows when to lead and when to assist. He has also spent over half a decade working in the Waikato emergency services field locally and regionally,” says Cr Vercoe.

“His team of 14 professionals based at the Group Emergency Management Office in Hamilton all have vast experience in their respective areas of expertise and are helping councils, agencies and related organisations to improve the resilience of the Waikato to emergencies.

“I have every confidence the Waikato is now able to manage any emergency it may experience,” says Cr Vercoe.

“We are again in a time of real change with new central government legislation, and the forever moving feast of what an ‘event’ looks like,” says Cr Park. “The tragedy of the Australian bush fires is an example of this. I am deeply humbled that I am included in the leadership of the Waikato region’s emergency management space.”

* In 2015, Langley Cavers was awarded the national CDEM Silver award for his leadership during the post Christchurch earthquake period of change.

Listen to Hugh Vercoe’s brief history of Waikato Civil Defence: https://youtu.be/lzEh8ypyT_U

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