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Jones retires as EMA director
YOUNGSTOWN
Mahoning County commissioners have accepted the resignation of Clark Jones as county emergency-management and communications director.
The commissioners accepted Jones’ retirement for health reasons Thursday.
Dennis O’Hara, a planner with the agency, will serve as acting director until the commissioners appoint a new permanent director, said Commissioner David Ditzler, board chairman.
Jones, of Poland, who became EMA planning and operations coordinator in June 2000, was appointed EMA director in May 2008 after the retirement of Walter Duzzny, who had been agency director for 25 years.
“Clark had some big shoes to fill when he came in and replaced Walt Duzzny,” Ditzler said. “He did a fantastic job in living up to those expectations. He took us to another level and provided excellent service to the residents of Mahoning County.”
Ditzler also credited Jones with upgrading the county’s emergency warning sirens.
“The most rewarding thing to me was the ability to ensure that Mahoning County took advantage of anything possible to make it a safer place” for the county’s citizens and guests, Jones said, referring to federal Homeland Security grants the county applied for and received. “The most-important thing that we did was to be prepared for weather emergencies,” he added.
Most of the county’s 53 emergency sirens were upgraded or replaced during his directorship, Jones said. “The reason for the sirens is to get people’s attention” and prompt them to turn to the media for further information, he added.
Before joining the county, Jones was regional general manager for Northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania for Rural Metro Ambulance Co.
Jones began his career in 1967 as an ambulance crew member with that company’s predecessor, Gold Cross Ambulance Co. He also had served as community-relations director and coordinator of corporate operations for that company.
Jones became a Poland fire lieutenant in February 1980.