Franklin County Emergency Management Coordinator Joel McWilliams was appointed as chief deputy sheriff in the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department during the board of supervisors meeting August 4th.
McWilliams has served as emergency management coordinator since September 2020 following the June 2020 death of then-coordinator, Jason Harper. McWilliams tells RadioOnTheGo News his career in law enforcement began 20 years ago with the Hampton Police Department.
“I began working at the police department as a reserve, shortly after I began working with the sheriff’s office doing the same thing here in Franklin County. I was hired full-time as a correctional officer in Cerro Gordo County in 2006. That was when they were about to open up their newly constructed jail up there. In 2008, I was hired full-time at the Hampton Police Department as an officer. I worked there until 2012 full-time. And when my wife and I started having a family, I started working at the street department for the city of Hampton. After leaving the police department, I stayed on with the sheriff’s office as a part-time employee, helping out on the weekends with transports and when they needed shifts filled. And then in 2020, I left the street department when I was hired for the emergency management position.”
Franklin County Sheriff Aaron Dodd says they are working to stay ahead of schedule in preparation for the anticipated retirement of Chief Deputy Stephen Bardole, which could take place within the next year or two, though no official date has been announced. McWilliams says he will continue his duties as emergency management coordinator until the position is filled later this year.
“We’ll probably have a meeting next month, I would assume, the Emergency Management Commission members and they’ll discuss moving forward. And then hopefully in a couple months, have someone new hired to take over and I’ll help them get things going and hopefully be able to take them around and introduce them to some of the first responder agencies as well as other EMAs in our local district. And the goal is to make it as smooth of a transition for the new person coming in as we can.”
McWilliams officially begins his duties as chief deputy sheriff August 11th.
