Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency and 911 Communications Director Tod Hartung may be new to the title, but he is not a new face to his co-workers.
Before his most recent appointment, Hartung began his work with the county in April 2010 as a part-time dispatcher, followed by EMA Director Tim Pellerin tapping him as the assistant director in 2011.
Next, he was named as interim director in the wake of Pellerin’s retirement this summer, and just recently, Hartung, on Aug. 7, got the nod from The Lincoln County Commissioners to assume the full position as director.
Hartung gained experience managing teams during his 20 year military career. He grew up in Ft. Washington, Penn. in the flight path of the Willow Grove Air Station watching fighter jets overhead as a child. This experience, combined with the fact that a neighbor had a four-seat single engine airplane and would take him up for rides, is how he became interested in the military.
In the Navy Hartung flew in the back seat of a F-14 Tomcat as a weapons operator for navigation and radios, as an RIO or radar intercept officer. “I got to fly in the planes but was never a pilot,” he said. “Aviation in the navy is fun because you get to both go out on the water, and fly. It is really cool. I had a blast, and met wonderful people. It was a great atmosphere.”
Hartung left the navy in 1999, and drove a big rig for several years, but gave it up when diesel cost $4.85 a gallon in 2008.
Hartung said he feels blessed, and that his trajectory in life both in his work and on a personal level was meant to be. He met his wife Annie in 1980 in Pensacola, Fla. where he was stationed. They married in 1981. They have three children, Rory, a paramedic who lives in Winslow, Peter, who is attending University of Maine at Augusta, and hopes to enter medical school, and Gracie, a 16-year-old attending Erskine Academy.
Hartung was introduced to Maine from his flights to Brunswick’s Naval Air Station. The coastline’s beauty staggered him. He told his wife about Maine, and without her or the children ever visiting the state first, they moved here in the summer of 1999 without contacts or a job. They lived in a camper at Lake Pemaquid Campground before buying a home in Jefferson near Bunker Hill.
Hartung said he has faith, “If God wants me to do this, then I will do this.”
The 911/Communications Center dispatches the county’s fire, law enforcement and medical services. The responsibilities are divided between police departments (Damariscotta, Wiscasset, Waldoboro, and Boothbay Harbor), the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, and the independent volunteer fire departments in each of the county’s 19 towns.
“9-1-1 has its thumb on the pulse of the county,” Hartung said. “We are a customer service organization, we literally have someone’s life in our hands.”
Last year dispatch had 35,000 calls for service, of which 15,000 were 911 related, and each one is assigned a call number, and information is plugged into the system.
The Lincoln County Communications Center, or Lincoln Com as it is known among local responders, serves all 19 towns in Lincoln County, plus four more Kennebec County: Randolph, Pittston, Farmingdale and West Gardiner. The communications center is located in Wiscasset between the Lincoln County Courthouse and the Sheriff’s Office.
Inside, the shades on the windows, half-drawn, and the dim lights accentuate the brightness of 16 computer terminals. There are four stations, and four computer screens at each station.
Dispatchers work three 12-hour shifts, and then one six-hour shift, said Mark Creamer, the supervisor on duty at that time. Last year new, ADA compliant adjustable counters were installed so that the dispatchers can stand or sit, depending on their needs. “That makes it much better for us, during the long shifts,” said Creamer. He has been on staff for 18 years.
Each dispatcher has on one of the four computer terminals a map which has ALI, or Automatic Locator Indicator. It can pinpoint the exact location of the caller if from a landline, or nearly locate someone’s cell phone call.
“The 911 communications is, on a hectic day, like a well choreographed ballet,” Hartung said. “All four people work well together, they are good at what they do. It can be stressful.”
“I am not a communications expert, nor an EMA expert, although I have training in both,” said Hartung. “I am the personnel manager of these programs.”
The national average length of stay for emergency communications officers is about three-and-one-half years, said Hartung, but in Lincoln County the length of employment is as long as 28 or 26 years. “Everyone gets along, it’s interesting work. If they need to take a break after a stressful call they help each other out. Hopefully they do not have to take it home at the end of the day,” he said.
Hartung’s role in the EMA is multi-faceted. “The EMA is responsible for responding to any manmade or natural disaster that might hit Lincoln County,” said Hartung. “We perform trainings on hazardous materials. We meet every month with county directors at Maine Emergency Management Agency, we go over plans with the State. The EMA supports the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), and assists other local emergency directors such as the County Animal Response. The EMA performs planning exercises and drills for various businesses and communities in the county. We work with the Red Cross, we can get shelters set up. We have resources at the state level, for example, IMAT or Incident Management Assist Team, a group of trained folks that can go help anywhere in the state. We would take the command trailers we have here and coordinate the response and the remediation.”
Currently Hartung is working on the upcoming Maine County Commissioners Association convention, which Lincoln County will host in September. He is on the committee as a department head helping to call potential vendors and organizing break-out sessions.
Also, the budget process is coming up, so he will be submitting budgets, doing performance evaluations. “It’s a busy time of year,” said Hartung. “The state and local governments need things, there are awards to hand out, performance evaluations to do. It’s very interesting and dynamic, it’s evolving all the time.”
