June 29, 2005
Someone new will soon start organizing emergency efforts for Charlottesville and Albemarle.
Fotini Russo is taking over as the area's Emergency Management Coordinator. Russo was an operations officer for years at an Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina before coming to Charlottesville.\
This marks the first time the EMC position has been 'full' time. Russo replaces Kaye Harden, who was the coordinator for 14 years.
"I'm thrilled. I love the emergency management profession, and just from the people I've met so far I can feel that they're very supportive of Kaye and there's a lot of credibility for this position, so I just hope to continue to serve the community," said Russo.
Harden's last day will be Thursday.
"I'm looking forward to it. It's been a very interesting job, that I very much enjoyed over the past 14 years, but it's been a lot of pressure in the job so I'm looking forward to getting away from that pressure," said Harden.
He says however that he'll still be around.
