Full Text of HR0935 095th General Assembly
HR0935 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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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| 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
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| 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
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| 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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| 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
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| 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
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 21 |
| presented to Thomas Mefferd as an expression of our respect and | 22 |
| esteem.
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