Long Beach Deputy City Manager Reggie Harrison has been promoted to director of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Communications, according to the City. City Manager Pat West made the announcement Tuesday morning.
Harrison will become the first permanent director of the new department responsible for disaster preparedness, Homeland Security grant coordination, and the consolidation and oversight of the City’s Emergency Communications functions.
“Reggie Harrison is absolutely the right person to lead this department,” West said. “He has years of experience in public-safety dispatch, homeland security and disaster preparedness. As director, he will be well positioned to strengthen the City’s efforts in these areas and complete the complex task of full consolidation of the City’s emergency dispatch functions.”
The Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Communications Department was created by the City Council in the Fiscal Year 2013 Budget to implement the consolidation of emergency communication and dispatch services, and to centralize disaster management and preparedness functions in the City. The department also plays a key role in coordinating and managing the City’s Homeland Security grants, working closely with police, fire and all other city departments to use those funds to strengthen the City’s preparedness and responsive capabilities, according to the City. In May 2013, West assigned Harrison to oversee the department until a formal appointment of a director was made.
“Since that time, Mr. Harrison has developed a state-of-the-art department with a comprehensive training curriculum and strengthening citywide relationships with the education, medical, transportation, nonprofit, County, State and Federal agencies essential for coordination during a disaster,” states a press release from the City. “Further, in April 2014, Mr. Harrison obtained national recognition for his leadership in making Long Beach one of just a handful of cities serving as a beta-site for the testing of early earthquake warning systems in the United States. Featured on CBS News, PBS and other media outlets, Mr. Harrison’s efforts in securing this innovative technology, once fully developed, will place Long Beach in a unique position to offer residents and businesses several seconds of warning before a major earthquake strikes.”
According to the City, Harrison has extensive management experience to oversee the critical citywide function. He has coordinated the City’s Homeland Security grant program totaling $9 million annually over the last several years. In both 2005 and 2011, he led studies of the emergency communications and dispatch center that eventually led to the decision to implement a consolidated dispatch model to improve customer service and achieve greater efficiencies, according to the City. At full implementation, the Department will include over 90 employees and have an all-funds budget of approximately $13 million.
Before his appointment as deputy city manager in February 2001, Harrison served as the City’s Housing Authority Bureau manager, Economic Development Bureau manager and acting director of the Community Development Department. In 2010, the city manager appointed him acting director of the Planning and Building Department.
Currently he serves as the acting director of the Long Beach Airport. Harrison is also a retired lieutenant colonel, having served 25 years in the California Army National Guard. He has a master’s degree in business administration and an undergraduate degree in psychology.
Source: City of LB
