Nobles County's emergency management director resigns

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WORTHINGTON — Nobles County Emergency Management Director Dan Anderson submitted his resignation Monday morning — one week after his cut from full-time to three-fifths time took effect.

Anderson, who guided the county through various natural disasters, a major response during the Minnesota Soybean Processors fire and, in more recent months, the move toward the statewide emergency radio system, will end his 4.5-year tenure with the county on Jan. 21.

Already, Anderson has begun working in the next phase of his career. He has signed contracts to work for the Southwest Regional Radio Board and the South Central Regional Radio Board. He will now provide administrative, planning and coordinating consultations for nearly 30 counties across southern Minnesota as they move toward the ARMER (Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response) system.

“Requests for proposals for this position were posted in mid-November … and in early November I learned emergency management would go to three-fifths time,” Anderson said. “It seemed an obvious choice and probably the area I would have ended up in anyway.”

In an economic climate in which jobs are being cut and eliminated, Anderson said he will join the ranks of those who prefer to look at the change in a positive light.

“A lot of people are trying to do their own thing — start a business,” he said. “With everything that’s been going on in this job for the past two months, this (new venture) has a lot more opportunity for growth.”

Initially, Anderson is contracted to work just 16 hours per week for the two radio boards, but he has other “irons in the fire.” Work with the regional radio boards will expand as the push toward the Jan. 1, 2013, ARMER implementation deadline nears.

“I’m doing this kind of with the thought that I want to build on it,” he said. Eventually, it is his hope it to get back into the public sector. During his career with Nobles County, Anderson was instrumental in bringing in $1 million in grants to help fund the ARMER system.

Anderson, who lives with his wife in Adrian, will work from a home office and plans to remain in Adrian.

“It’s going to be a little bit tough out of the gate, but I’m going to enjoy having the freedom,” he said.

Anderson will work directly with both regional radio board chairmen. They include Nobles County Sheriff Kent Wilkening, who chairs the Southwest RRB, and Tim Mohr, a Blue Earth County law enforcement officer.

“I look forward to working with people I’ve already worked with in law enforcement,” he added.

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