In times of disaster, it’s usually the state capitol sending help to Monroe County. In this case, it’s the opposite.
On April 6, Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi received a phone call from state Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz. Moskowitz was asking Gastesi for particular help — that of former Monroe County Emergency Management Director Marty Senterfitt.
By noon, he was in the car headed to the state capitol to help lead in the state Emergency Operations Center. What is he going to do when he gets there?
“I don’t know,” said Senterfitt, adding that the Keys are in good hands with the new Emergency Management Director Shannon Weiner. “I’ll find out when I get there.”
This is not Senterfitt’s first pandemic response — he worked through the H1N1 virus outbreak in 2009.
“But all hazards are approached the same way with the incident command system. The strength that I bring to the table is that I have been in emergency management for so long, I am a first name basis with everyone across the state,” Senterfitt said. Most likely, he continued, he will be connecting with all the 67 county emergency management directors to make sure their needs are understood and met.
“This was not how I imagined drifting quietly into retirement,” he said.
