ASHLAND — Ashland County commissioners ended their eight-month search for an EMA director on Thursday when they hired Anne Strouth.
Strouth, 53, of Ashland, starts April 17 and will work under a one-year probationary period. She will be paid $55,000.
The law enforcement veteran said she hopes to build on what has already been established at the Ashland County EMA through building community collaborations.
“I’ll be looking at resources that haven’t been tapped into yet,” Strouth said.
She will work in a new space on the second-floor of the county office building on Cottage Street. The space is where U.S. Congressman Bob Gibbs used to have an office.
Commissioner Jim Justice said he expects the office to be ready when Strouth starts.
Strouth’s hire comes eight months after former EMA Director Mark Rafeld retired in July. He served in the role for 15 years. Commissioners then hired Ashland County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Randy Wood to serve as interim director in September.
Wood, a 22-year veteran at the sheriff’s office already had a full plate when he took the added responsibilities of emergency management for the county. In December, he said the position had been fun but that there was “a lot of stuff to do.”
So in December, commissioners posted the job with specific duties and responsibilities. The posting produced 60 applications, according to the commissioner’s office.
Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of hiring Strouth during a regular board meeting on Thursday. Her hiring was not part of the agenda.
“It was quite an exhausting process,” Ashland County Commissioner Denny Bittle said about the EMA director hiring process. “We looked at many candidates, we looked at many procedures.”
Bittle said the office even considered combining EMA services with Wayne County before deciding on the current setup: moving the EMA to a renovated office space on the second-floor of the county building, with Strouth at the helm.
At one point, the commissioners considered placing the EMA services at the new health department building on Claremont Avenue. They also thought about moving EMA into the sheriff’s office.
Commissioners believe Strouth is a good fit.
“After all the due diligence, I know it took some time and I appreciate the public’s patience with that, we feel that we have a really good candidate here and I think we’ll be really successful with that,” Bittle said.
Strouth started her career in Loudonville’s police department shortly after graduating from Loudonville High School. From the police department, she moved to the Ohio State Patrol.
She then served as the program director for the criminal justice program and police academy at North Central State College for 23 years.
She’s also served as a special deputy for the Richland County Sheriff’s Office and as a park ranger for the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District at Charles Mill and Pleasant Hill lakes.
Strouth lives in Ashland with her husband, a firefighter and paramedic in Crestline.
