REGIONALIZING EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT - COUNTIES AS STATE AND LOCAL-GOVERNMENT

Why should emergency management agencies be based in county offices? William L. Waugh, Jr., discovers a number of reasons including that they generally (1) are geographically close to environmental problems, (2) have larger resource bases than municipalities, (3) have ambiguous administrative structures that encourage inter- and intragovernmental cooperation, (4) are local agents of state administration, (5) have close administrative ties to state agencies, (6) provide forums for local-local cooperation, and (7) serve as general-purpose local governments representing local interests and having strong local identification.