Brunswick County Commissioner Frank Williams ends term as NCACC president

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) - Brunswick County Commissioner Frank Williams has completed his term as president of the N.C. Association of County Commissioners.

Williams’ term lasted a year and came to an end at the organization’s annual conference on August 11. There, he passed the gauntlet to the next president.

During his term, Williams led the organization as it planned its first “100 Counties Prepared” training. That came to fruition at this month’s conference. In total, 61 commissioners attended the training on how to respond after natural disasters.

The training included an overview of emergency preparedness and management, the role of elected leaders in those situations and crisis communication training from Brunswick County’s own director of communications.

“What was interesting to me was all the different players — even outside of government — that are involved in an emergency,” said Williams, who also participated in the training. “You’ve got the utilities of course. You have business leaders and the state emergency operations center during an event, the chamber, the retail merchants. You don’t think about a group like that, but retailers are a part of your food supply during an emergency.”

While the training drew in a good number of participants, not all 100 counties had commissioners present. Williams hopes they’ll take advantage of the opportunity in future years.

“You know, we may never get to all 100, but the closer we get, the better off our state will be. Obviously, we can’t force any county to attend. That’s going to be for those to make the decision that they want to be more educated than they were on this important topic.”

Several leaders from the Cape Fear area participated in the training. They include eight from Brunswick County, two from New Hanover County, one from Columbus County and one from Pender County. You can find a full list of participants here.

As Williams celebrates a successful term, he looks forward to continuing his work as a commissioner while also hoping to make sure all of North Carolina is prepared when the next disaster strikes.

“I’m going to continue working on this through our state’s Justice and Public Safety Committee,” said Williams. “I’ll have a little more time to focus on [Brunswick County] and spend a little less time in my car.”

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