Oktibbeha County emergency officials gave out several awards earlier this month to staffers for their service to the agency.
The awards came in honor of National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week, which was April 8-14.
Oktibbeha County EMA Director Kristen Campanella told the Starkville Daily News that within the last year, the agency has received 126,451 phone calls, 544,357 radio transmissions and completed 47,997 incident reports.
“The ones who answer these calls for assistance everyday are the backbone of emergency response services,” she said. “Their professionalism, commitment, and dedication are what we tried to acknowledge and honor that week."
Campanella also thanked the community on behalf of the staff for their support and kindness during the week.
“From the gifts cards from local businesses to the meals that were prepared for them, we all are extremely grateful to be a part of such a supportive community,” Campanella said.
Telecommunicator of the Year: Tyler Gray
Gray has been employed with the agency since 2015, beginning as a telecommunicator. He has since worked his way up and completed all training to become lead telecommunications officer.
Award of Excellence - Grant Tollison
Tollison has been employed with the agency since 2012. Emergency officials said Tollison was recognized for “his attentive, diligent efforts and his devotion of service to not only our agency, but to our community.”
Nancy Bragg Award – Candra Mobley
The agency each year gives an award for Supervisor of the Year, but decided this year to pay tribute to one of the agency’s first supervisors since it became a stand-alone agency in 2001.
Nancy Bragg served the county for 17 years in the field of public safety. The award bearing her name will acknowledge a communications supervisor as a model of professional conduct, superior knowledge, honesty, integrity, loyalty and dedication to those who serve in the field of public safety telecommunications.
Mobley has been with the agency since 2007. She has completed multiple training classes from the Emergency Management Institute, in addition to the required certifications for Emergency Telecommunicator.
Officials said Mobley’s hard work and commitment earned her the position of communications supervisor and this year’s Supervisor of the Year.