Mobile County EMA moves email and website to .gov, schedules stakeholder exercises

Mike Evans, director of the Mobile County Emergency Management Agency, told the commission on May 27 that his office has migrated its website and email accounts to a .gov domain and has scheduled upcoming stakeholder exercises to test emergency operations and data capture.

"We no longer have the .net. It's M.Evans@MobileCountyE.M.A.Dotgov," Evans said, adding the agency moved web and email services to the .gov domain about a month ago to address information-delivery problems. He told commissioners the old addresses will continue to forward while stakeholders update contact lists.

Evans said the agency has scheduled its annual Mobile County EMA stakeholders meeting and will use the exercises to review preparedness procedures, test data and GIS capture, and practice emergency operations center functions. He described the exercises as opportunities for the county and representatives who would sit in the Emergency Operations Center during an event to run drills and review new information systems.

"We're always want to be prepared. We'd rather be over prepared and then not have to do anything," Evans said, noting a recent practice run for a tropical storm went smoothly.

Why it matters: Changes to EMA contact information affect how county departments, municipalities and the public reach the agency during incidents. Stakeholder exercises are routine preparedness activities that test interagency coordination, data systems and response procedures.

The EMA director invited commissioners and staff to contact the agency with questions and to participate in upcoming drills.