Williams appointed to National Disaster Reform Task Force
Brunswick County Commissioner Frank Williams has been named to a newly formed National Association of Counties (NACo) Intergovernmental Disaster Reform Task Force. NaCo President and Sonoma County, CA Supervisor James Gore appointed 28 county leaders to the group, which is tasked with modernizing federal disaster policies, strengthening intergovernmental partnerships geared towards disaster resiliency and enhancing local disaster mitigation, response and recovery capacities.
“Every community in our country understands the fierce urgency of protecting our communities and building our resiliency to disasters,” said NACo President James Gore. “Having battled through mega fires, floods and droughts here in my own backyard, I know that tasking this diverse group of leaders to work quickly and thoughtfully towards a set of recommended actions will enable counties to drastically improve our community, county and nationwide resilience.”
When disasters strike, county officials and emergency responders play a critical role in the immediate response as well as in long-term recovery efforts. Given the robust county role in everything from emergency response to infrastructure to housing, counties occupy a central role that offers unique insight into issues of disaster management and resiliency.
Williams reflected on how his experience serving as Chair of the Brunswick County Board of Commissioners during three hurricanes prepared him to serve on the disaster reform task force.
“Brunswick County residents felt the effects of hurricanes Florence, Dorian, and Isaias during my four years as Chair of the board of commissioners,” said Williams. “My experience during Florence has been the defining moment of my tenure as a commissioner and was the inspiration for my NCACC Presidential initiative, 100 Counties Prepared. Serving on this task force is a natural extension of that work.”
Williams served as President of the N.C. Association of County Commissioners (NCACC) from August 2021 until August 2022. His NCACC Presidential Initiative, 100 Counties Prepared, was borne out of his experience serving as Chair of the Brunswick County Board of Commissioners during Hurricanes Florence, Dorian, and Isaias, through which he observed a lack of emergency preparedness training suitable for elected officials. He appointed a task force, which focused on filling that void by creating an emergency preparedness training tailor-made for elected officials. Sixty-one county officials from across North Carolina completed the inaugural 100 Counties Prepared Emergency Preparedness Training for County Commissioners, which was held in conjunction with the 115th Annual NCACC Conference in Cabarrus County on August 11, 2022. Three 100 Counties Prepared training sessions have now been conducted, and more are planned. For more information, click here.
Additionally, Williams is currently serving his second term as Chair of NaCo’s Resilient Counties Advisory Board (RCAB). According to the NaCo website, “Hurricanes, wildfires, economic collapse, and other disasters can be natural or man-made, acute or long-term, foreseeable or unpredictable. Preparation for and recovery from such events requires both long-term planning and immediate action. NACo works to strengthen county resiliency by building leadership capacity to identify and manage risk and allow counties to become more flexible and responsive.”
Over the past four decades, the U.S. has faced 387 natural disasters with damages at our exceeding $1 billion. These billion-dollar disasters have collectively cost the U.S. economy more than $2.74 trillion and claimed the lives of 16,434 people – losses felt powerfully at the local level. In 2023, nearly one-third of all counties experienced at least one federally declared disaster.
For more information about the Intergovernmental Disaster Reform Task Force, click here.