County commissioners say they are interested in a proposal by Sheriff Wayne Ivey to take over running the county's Emergency Management Department — and some of them appear to be already sold on the idea.
On Thursday night, commissioners unanimously approved a proposal by Commissioner John Tobia to begin a feasibility study of having the sheriff assume oversight of day-to-day operations at emergency management.
As part of that study, Ivey plans to have a series of meetings with county and municipal officials to see if such a change is feasible.
The current Brevard County emergency management director, Kimberly Prosser, this week announced that she is resigning, effective June 5, to go into the private sector. Prosser has been emergency management director since 2012.
More: Brevard Emergency Management Director Prosser resigns
More: Sheriff pursues plan to take over county's emergency operations
Her announcement accelerated a move by County Commission Vice Chair Rita Pritchett to publicly pursue putting Ivey in charge of running emergency management. Under Pritchett's vision, emergency management would remain a county department overseen by the County Commission, rather than part of the Brevard County Sheriff's Office.
Many details still would need to be worked out. Under the proposal commissioners approved, the study would focus on Ivey taking oversight of day-to-day operations of emergency management, based on one section of state statute. A different section of state statute deals with emergency management during a declared emergency, and that was not part of the County Commission action on Thursday.
Pritchett said she has been discussing the issue with Ivey off and on for the last two years, after Ivey initiated the first discussion.
Pritchett believes Ivey has the leadership and communications skills needed to run emergency management, adding that she felt those have been shortcomings in the department under Prosser's leadership.
"I don't know who's more qualified than the sheriff," Pritchett said, as she brought up the issue during her commissioner report at the end of Thursday's meeting. "We need a little bit more expertise" at the helm in emergency management.
Commissioner Kristine Isnardi said she believes Ivey "will do a good job" in this added role, citing the need for leadership, cohesiveness and order in emergency management.
Isnardi said Ivey's strength at messaging will "make people feel safe," including during a time of crisis.
Prosser actually does have extensive background in communications. She had been the county's director of communications and Space Coast Government Television from 2005 to 2012.
Before joining county government, Prosser was community relations and marketing director for Brevard Community College (now Eastern Florida State College) and communications training officer for the Cocoa Police Department.
She also was mentored by her predecessor as emergency management director, Bob Lay, in the county's emergency operations, and succeeded him in the post after he died in 2012.
Commissioner John Tobia this week criticized the timing of Prosser's resignation, coming in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and at the start of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.
But County Commission Chair Bryan Lober told FLORIDA TODAY on Thursday that he has no issues with that timing.
Lober said job opportunities typically do not remain available for months. After working as a department head in Brevard County for 15 years, Lober said Prosser "certainly cannot be accused of job-hopping."
Lober also noted that the decision-making of the Brevard County Policy Group — of which Prosser was a member — has been praised by the state, including Gov. Ron DeSantis. Yet county commissioners earlier this month voted 4-1, with Lober opposed, to take over the decision-making powers from the 10-member Policy Group during a state of emergency. The Policy Group — which includes two elected officials — now has more of an advisory role.
"I can appreciate that anyone in Kim's position might be less than enthusiastic" by recent County Commission action to "second-guess and subsequently eviscerate the Policy Group," Lober said.
Ivey told commissioners he appreciates the confidence they have in his team, and said he would work to get a report back to them within a month, detailing the feasibility of the proposal for him to oversee emergency management.
Ivey previously has taken over running the county's animal services and enforcement operations, as well as Port Canaveral's law enforcement operations.
Commissioners take a break from meetings during June, so the discussion of this issue is expected to pick up again in July.
Two members of the public who addressed commissioners on the issue Thursday night during pubic comment expressed opposition to Ivey taking over emergency management.
They cited concerns about budget issues; the potential politicizing of the emergency management position; and the Brevard County Sheriff's Office's limited interaction with FLORIDA TODAY, which could negatively affect emergency management communications with the public.
Brevard County Public Safety Group Director Matthew Wallace on Wednesday prepared a memo detailing various issues to consider related the sheriff potentially taking over emergency management. Wallace is the direct supervisor of both Prosser and Brevard County Fire Rescue Chief Mark Schollmeyer.
The items Wallace listed involve such things as:
- The status of grants that emergency management receives and that account for most of its $10.7 million annual budget.
- The chain of command involving county employees staffing hurricane shelters.
- Agreements with municipalities for emergency 9-1-1 operations.
- The county's efforts to secure funding for a new Emergency Operations Center in Rockledge.
Isnardi said Ivey might have more success in getting federal and state funding for the Emergency Operations Center, with his connections in Washington and Tallahassee.
When Prosser became emergency management director, she had to resign from her position as a member of the Rockledge City Council, based on a 2012 advisory legal opinion from then-Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi related to simultaneously holding dual offices. Bondi found the situation Prosser would violate a provision of the Florida Constitution.
But Brevard County Attorney Eden Bentley told commissioners on Thursday that she has researched the issue, and that Bondi's opinion would not apply if Ivey takes over emergency management. That's because Ivey is an elected "constitutional officer," and the circumstances are different from those that involved Prosser in 2012.
Wallace also noted in his memo that some Florida counties already have their emergency management functions under their county's sheriff. Among them are Baker, Citrus, Lake, Marion, Nassau and Union — all smaller in population than Brevard.
Wallace said John Scott, the county's deputy director of emergency management and director of operations, will fill Prosser's position on an interim basis. Scott also runs the county's Emergency Operations Center in Rockledge when it is activated.
County Manager Frank Abbate said he will hold off on beginning a search for Prosser's successor, awaiting County Commission direction on how commissioners want to reorganize the department.
One possibility is that the sheriff would oversee emergency management, and that there would be no need to hire someone additional to replace Prosser.
Dave Berman is government editor at FLORIDA TODAY.
Contact Berman at 321-242-3649 or dberman@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @bydaveberman
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