Jasper County Emergency Services Board names executive director

April 11, 2008 06:15 pm

— By Dustin Shipman
dshipman@joplinglobe.com
CARTHAGE — Rich Nordell was named executive director of Jasper County Emergency Services by its board of directors during a special meeting Friday.
Nordell has served as the interim executive director since the dismissal of Ron Boyer last September. Boyer held the post for eight years. No reason was ever made public for Boyer’s dismissal.
Friday’s vote was unanimous and the only order of business for the meeting, which lasted only a few minutes.
Kelly Stephens, board chairman and chief deputy with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department, said during the meeting that he looks forward to Nordell’s continued leadership with the agency, which manages the county’s 911 call center and handles dispatching.
“Obviously, there is a lot of work ahead but he has done a good job working with the other agencies and bringing them together, and that speaks highly of his leadership,” Stephens said.
There were seven applicants for the position but Stephens said Nordell stood out as the clear choice.
“Anytime when you are going through a transition where you are changing leadership there is a turmoil and uneasiness with some of the employees and Rich has done a very good job with bringing those employees together and working with them,” Stephens said.
Nordell said he looks forward to doing the same level of work that led to him being named executive director.
“I am very pleased with the appointment,” he said. “I have been serving as the interim executive director for the past seven months and in that time I have not sat idle. We have made several changes thus far and we will continue to do so. We have several projects coming up that we are excited about.
“Technology moves so fast and we have had some technology that has been here since the building was put in place, so we are looking at replacing some of that and upgrading it,” Nordell said. “With that, we should have even more capabilities.”

Up next
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Jasper County Emergency Services Board will take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 13, at the county’s 911 call center, 13870 Dispatch Lane in Carthage.