News : Former Benton Co. Emergency Manager Hansen Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Scott Hansen was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award from IAEM USA Region 7

Scott Hansen, Former Benton County Emergency Manager, received the IAEM USA Region 7 Lifetime Achievement Award. IAEM is the International Association of Emergency Management. Region 7 which includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.

The award is given to a professional possessing at least 15 years of dedicated service to the field of emergency management at the local, county, state, or federal level. The winner must be a documented leader in the field, who has provided major contributions to bettering emergency management within Region 7, and has influenced and developed future generations of emergency managers.

Jodi Freet, CEM, Iowa-CEM, MA, MAEM, submitted Scott's name and accomplishments for the award. She is the Director of Cedar County EMA/911.

"Scott Hansen made a number of contributions to Emergency Management, not only in the Midwest, but in Iowa. Scott retired at the end of June 2024 as the Benton County Emergency Manager after 25 years of service. During his tenure he was responsible for a number of things, some of which are listed below.

* Scott was named the inaugural 2020 'Mitch Nordmeyer Pillar of Community Leadership Award' due to his continual and exceptional professional and volunteer achievements in emergency management. This award is given by the Iowa Emergency Management Association (IEMA) in honor of the late Mitch Nordmeyer. The recipient must embody the spirit of community through their actions and accomplishments and are often an inspiration to all.

* Scott served IEMA as president and was a member of numerous committees designed to advance the profession of Emergency Management in Iowa. Under his direction, the IA-CEM program was overhauled and designed to truly teach incoming emergency managers about their role and community responsibilities. He has worked to assist others to ensure that they succeed and become a pillar in their communities.

* He served tirelessly as part of the Region 6 LEPC (Local Emergency Planning Committee- includes 9 area counties), and was a driving force to work with community partners to ensure HazMat awareness and preparedness. Due to Scott's tenacity, the Region 6 LEPC went above and beyond with full scale exercises, planning, preparedness and education. One such accomplishment was helping to ensure that a Regional ESF10 is planned and written annually for all of the member counties of the LEPC.

* Scott worked to develop Benton County's Long Term Recover Coalition (LTRC) to provide help and assistance for all members of his community. One significant effort to assist was after the August 2020 derecho. Scott worked with his county's LTRC to find donations and funding to help farmers (who are not typically eligible for FEMA funding) recover from this devastating storm. Scott's drive and determination helped his community survivors after this horrible event.

* Also during the August 2020 derecho, Scott was of immense help to emergency managers in his district. Scott partnered with Matthew 25 to ensure that there was a point of distribution for hygiene and food products for those in his district that had been affected by the derecho. This POD made it possible for me to pick up items for my community members in need and was a key to helping another county recover during one of the costliest thunderstorms in US history.

* Scott served me as a mentor and as wise counsel for difficult subjects. His expertise was second to none and his retirement has left a considerable loss in Iowa's Region 6.

I know that there are many more things that Scott E. Hansen did during his tenure as the Benton County Emergency Manager. We are fortunate that he shared his time and talents with those in Iowa and throughout the nation."

In 2018, Hansen, along with several colleagues, presented a break-out session at the NREP Conference (National Radiological Emergency Preparedness) in Seattle, WA. They developed an electronic messaging program to assist in necessary communication during a potential incidents at a nuclear power plant.

Hansen, who retired in June this year, stated, "I was surprised and honored that I was chosen to receive this award. It meant a lot to me that my work and efforts paid off in helping communities and other First Responders and Emergency Managers."