Columbus names new emergency management director. Who he is and what he’ll do:
The man who long served as emergency management director in Russell County and at Auburn University in Alabama is now taking that position in Columbus.
Chance Corbett says he’ll become Columbus’ new emergency management director on Jan. 4, filling the position vacated by Riley Land, who has retired.
Corbett, 47, has nearly 28 years of experience in the field, having started in Russell County in 2001 before Auburn University recruited him to become its emergency management director in November 2007.
He’ll turn 48 later this month, and retire from his current position at Auburn on Dec. 31, he said.
His job will be to coordinate the response to natural disasters such as storms and floods, and essentially any widespread threat to public safety.
“We basically plan for anything that could happen, and pray it doesn’t,” he said.
He had no immediate plans to change anything in the office’s current operations, as he needed to know more about that first, he said.
“I have to get in there and get my feet wet,” he said, adding that he’s familiar with most of the people he’ll be working with, from his previous experience: “I know half of them already.”
He’s excited to be among the city’s new public safety leadership, as Columbus has a new fire chief, a new police chief, and a new sheriff who’s also to take office in January.
“I’m going to be right there with them, coming in the door,” he said.