Indianapolis Struggles to Staff Emergency Management

INDIANAPOLIS --

Indianapolis officials said Tuesday they were still working to fill the position of Emergency Management Director, vacant now for four months.

The Marion County Emergency Operations Center has been utilized several times over the last few months, with the massive fire at a downtown apartment complex and with the NCAA Regional Basketball Tournament in town.

But city officials told 6News' Jack Rinehart that they're having trouble finding a qualified candidate to oversea the emergency response efforts.

"This is one of the most difficult positions to fill because there are no ready-made emergency management directors that have the full range of talents," said Indianapolis Public Safety Director Scott Newman.

The position requires knowledge of terrorist threats and transportation issues, mass evacuations and emergency medical procedures, Newman said.

Along with a new director, the Newman said the city also wants to create a new emergency operations center capable of dealing with regional public safety issues. The new center would have the capacity to serve as a 911 call center and also handle the most extreme disasters.

"We want to build, I think we have to build, a state-of-the-art regional emergency operations center," Neman said. "We don't have one here and it's going to have to involve the surrounding counties."

Newman said he had interviewed six candidates for the position of director. He said he hopes to have a decision within the next 10 days.