During last night’s Columbia County Board of Commissioners meeting, Suzie Hughes, Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Deputy Director, and Corbin Cooney, EMA Planning Coordinator were each recognized for completing the Georgia Professional Emergency Management Certification with Georgia Emergency Management Agency/Homeland Security (GEMA/HS).

The Georgia Professional Certification for Emergency Managers is the highest level of Emergency Manager Certification achievable in the State of Georgia. This certification is limited to individuals who serve in positions within emergency management organizations. Applicants must be approved by a local Emergency Management Director or the Chief Elected Official for local Jurisdictional participants.

The Georgia Professional Certification encompasses all the requirements of the Georgia Basic and Advanced Certifications, including 20 FEMA Independent Study courses, 320 hours of classroom course work, passing each course with an above average final test score. Additionally, the Candidate must have served a minimum of five (5) years in emergency management related services, demonstrate they have participated in the development, implementation and evaluation of a full-scale exercise within the Homeland Security Exercise & Evaluation Program guidelines; and completed at least 150 hours of additional training.

Lastly, the candidate must demonstrate that they have made contributions to the profession by providing documentation of a minimum of five separate contributions above job related expectations.

Applications for Professional level certification are presented to the Georgia Emergency Management Professional Review Board for review and approval or denial. Certified Emergency Managers (all levels) are required to submit to the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA/HS) Training Office, proof of completion of a minimum of 24 hours continuing education credit hours annually to maintain their certification.

Since the beginning of the program in 1999, less than 90 Georgia Emergency Mangers have achieved the status of a Certified Georgia Professional Emergency Manager. Today approximately 48 are actively working in the field of Emergency Management. Those who achieve this level of professionalism in any field should be greatly commended for their hard work and commitment to the citizens of the State of Georgia and their local Jurisdictions. With their achievement, Hughes and Cooney join EMA Director Shawn Granato as Professional-CEMs making Columbia County the only county in the state with three.

“As County Manager, I encourage all our employees to uphold a high standard of excellence and challenge them to always go above and beyond the minimum requirements. I congratulate Ms. Hughes and Mr. Cooney their completion of the Professional Emergency Management Certification. With this, our Emergency Management Agency will continue to provide the high level of service our residents have come to expect,” said County Manager Scott Johnson.