AAC F A M I L Y & F R I E N D S Maxwell
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In 2005, Hurricane Katrina put a major strain on the relation- ship between the ADEM and the counties, Maxwell said. With 14,000 Katrina refugees overwhelming local governments and the Department of Emergency Management’s director’s office experiencing its own turmoil and turnover, Maxwell said county judges began reaching out to him because he was a known en- tity, and they believed they could depend on him. Te next year, 2006, he was appointed ADEM director. “At the base of it, we’re in the customer service business,” Max-
well said, describing the approach he’s taken to restoring good relationships with county judges. “As long as you have that at- titude, relationships follow.” It’s not just the attitude, though. Maxwell’s practical experience and knowledge of emergency management and disaster planning earned the respect of the state’s county judges, said Sebastian County Judge David Hudson, president of the County Judges’ Association of Arkansas. “Plus he’s just a heck of a nice guy to work with,” Hudson said.
“He’s a real, true public servant. We’ll miss him.” While Hurricane Katrina was an unprecedented challenge,
Maxwell said it taught him an important lesson that hearkened back to his experience helping the woman all those years ago af- ter the Hamburg tornadoes: rules may be rules, but you have to empower the people in the field to do their job. “I have told my staff I would back them up for anything done in the field if they’re trying to help someone,” he said. And his willingness to give counties the resources they needed
Above: Retiring ADEM Director David Maxwell was awarded the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials’ first Trailblazer Award in April 2016. According to a news release, the award honors Maxwell’s “outstanding and dedicated service to emergency management and years of excellence in lead- ing the collaboration between emergency management and public health.”
said. Tey developed response plans for everything from hazardous materials to floods and tornadoes to Africanized honeybees. “We have a checklist for any disaster you could possibly think
of,” he said. “And just in case we haven’t thought of something, we have a miscellaneous one.” Te 1990s brought new threats: Y2K and, after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, terrorism. While Maxwell was busy ad- dressing those major issues, the state epidemiologist called want- ing to talk about the possibility of a pandemic. Ten the state veterinarian about foreign animal diseases. “Tat really scared the hell out of me,” Maxwell said. “Tat was all in 1999. It was a really interesting year.” Ten came the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which
“changed this business,” Maxwell said. “When you look at the asymmetrical threat we’re facing from
terrorism, it’s almost going back to the Cold War,” he said. “It’s so cyclical.”
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was crucial, Hudson said. “We had a meeting on what kind of flexibility we had to take action with regard to financial support,” Hudson recalled. “He authorized, over the phone, $1 million. We didn’t need that much, but that was the type of confidence and the level of under- standing he had of the processes and the funding streams and the need to make decisions on a timely basis.” Maxwell said the biggest challenge of his time as director was the sheer number of major disasters ADEM has responded to — 19 federally declared disasters in 10 years. One of his proud- est moments came just this past April, when he was named the first recipient of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials’ Trailblazer Award. Te award recognized his service to emergency management as a whole, but specifically his work leading a collaboration between the fields of emergency manage- ment and public health. “To be able to effect a relationship between two national groups, two disciplines, really meant a lot to me,” Maxwell said. So what’s a guy who’s been perpetually on call for 38 years going to do once he turns off his work phone for good? He has no idea. “I’m not sure what relaxed feels like,” he said. “Will I know it when I get there?” He’s planning to do some consulting work for the National
Governor’s Association this summer and hopes to do more if it comes up. And he’ll also start enjoying a personal life for the first time in decades. “I played golf once this year and once last year,” he joked. “I owe my wife a lot of time.”
COUNTY LINES, SPRING 2016
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