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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3 Representatives are pleased to congratulate Thomas O. Mefferd
4 on his retirement as Director of the DuPage County Office of
5 Homeland Security and Emergency Management; and
 
6     WHEREAS, Tom Mefferd began his career in emergency
7 management in 1971 as the Civil Defense Director for the
8 Village of Plainfield, a position he held for 10 years; during
9 that time he was responsible for the development and management
10 of the community's emergency preparedness program as well as
11 managing the community's first city-wide communications system
12 and first municipally operated ambulance service; and
 
13     WHEREAS, In 1981, Mr. Mefferd left municipal government and
14 became an instructor for the Federal Emergency Management
15 Agency, where he was responsible for conducting training
16 courses and disaster exercises in the six state area that
17 composed FEMA Region 5, as well as at the National Emergency
18 Training Center in Emmitsburg, Maryland; and
 
19     WHEREAS, During his time with the Federal Emergency
20 Management Agency, he also served as an instructor for the
21 Michigan State Police, Emergency Management Division; in 1988,
22 he returned to local government service and became the Deputy

 

 

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1 Coordinator of the DuPage County Office of Emergency
2 Management, where he was responsible for disaster planning and
3 training activities, as well as managing the department's
4 volunteer program; in 1991, he began coordinating the efforts
5 of the Multi-County Severe Weather Warning System, which
6 includes the National Weather Service and 15 counties in
7 northern Illinois; and
 
8     WHEREAS, He was appointed Coordinator of the DuPage County
9 Office of Emergency Management in 1995; he supervised the
10 renovation of the County's Emergency Operating Center and
11 designed and supervised the construction of the County's Mobile
12 Operating Center; in 1998, he supervised the installation of
13 the County's Emergency Alert System (EAS), the first
14 operational EAS system in the State; he also served as the
15 chairman of the DuPage County Terrorism Task Force and as a
16 member of the County's Y2K emergency planning group; and
 
17     WHEREAS, Thomas Mefferd presently represents DuPage County
18 serving as a member of the Illinois Terrorism Task Force,
19 co-chair of the Task Force's Communications Committee, and
20 chair of the Illinois Homeland Security Advisory System working
21 group; in his Task Force roles, he chaired the development and
22 distribution of the States' guidelines for implementation of
23 the Homeland Security Advisory System, facilitated the
24 purchase and installation of a statewide satellite based

 

 

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1 communications and warning system, and assisted in the
2 development of a statewide transportable interoperable
3 communications system; and
 
4     WHEREAS, Following the September 11th terrorist attack,
5 DuPage County enhanced its emergency management role to include
6 trend analysis, medical surveillance, and specialized
7 communications and became the first county in Illinois to staff
8 its Emergency Operating Center on a 24/7 basis; the Center also
9 became responsible for the operation and management of the
10 County's Citizen Corps program; in October 2003, Mr. Mefferd
11 became the Director of the DuPage County Office of Homeland
12 Security and Emergency Management as DuPage became the first
13 county in the State to merge the roles of emergency management
14 and homeland security; therefore, be it
 
15     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
16 NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
17 congratulate Thomas Mefferd for his dedication to his position
18 and for his hard work on behalf of the people of DuPage County;
19 and be it further
 
20     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
21 presented to Thomas Mefferd as an expression of our respect and
22 esteem.