BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph Staff Writer
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— Clay County’s Emergency Management Director announced his retirement, and the county said his deputy will move into the top job.
John Ward said in an email that it is time to move on.
“It is with both excitement and sadness that I would like to announce that I have decided to retire,” he wrote. “As I look to the next chapter, I reflect on the amazing journey the past 25+ years has been. The partnerships and relationships we have built are second to none, as have been proven many times, especially during COVID. We have managed many incidents, deployments, and special events with the processes that you all have assisted in building. Over time we have been able to build a great team that will move Clay County forward into the future for Clay County Emergency Management.”
During a Keystone Heights Rotary meeting last year, County Commissioner Betsy Condon said Ward, a former Keystone Heights resident who now lives in Clay Hill, often leads statewide seminars on emergency management and has turned down many offers to work in larger communities.
She added that his role after Irma in coordinating the $10 million pickup of yard waste generated by the storm was an unheralded but massive achievement.
During that same meeting, Ward said that his time in Clay County government would soon be ending.
“It’s always a pleasure to come down here,” he told the Rotarians. “I miss the Keystone Heights area, but as you know, in the next year or two years, hopefully, I’ll be moving on and letting the younger generation come in.”
After Hurricane Ian passed south of the area last September, Ward’s deputy, Mike Ladd, appeared in the department’s videos instead of Ward.
Ladd’s videos guided county residents through Tropical Storm Nicole in November. He now takes over as the director.
