The primary role of the City’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is to mitigate any situation affecting the City due to natural or man-made disasters.  The OEM is committed to the protection of both life and property through the mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery phases of a disaster.  The City of Willard works in partnership with the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management which strives to be a model of best practices in mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery against high-impact events to reduce the loss of life, damage to property and harm to the environment.

The main duties of the City’s OEM include:

  • To establish/designate a primary Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for the City.
  • To update/review the Local Emergency Operations Plans (LEOP).
  • To comply with the National Incident Management System (NIMS).
  • To complete all required FEMA training courses.
  • To conduct/participate in an annual Training and Exercise Plan Workshop (TEPW).
  • To participate in the development and/or maintenance of state or regional Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessments (THIRA).
  • To submit status reports and claims on a quarterly basis at minimum.
  • Training/Exercising.
  • Public Information.
  • Emergency planning and operations.
  • Administration.

Jennifer Rowe serves as the City’s Local Emergency Management Director and can be contacted at (417) 742-3033 ext 5302 or willardemd@yahoo.com.

The procedure for opening of shelters is as follows:
Our two (2) local churches that volunteer for shelter  during severe weather are:

  • New Life Baptist and
  • Willard Community Church

When Greene County dispatch activates storm spotters in the Willard area the on duty fire captain will call each church and alert them of the approaching weather.

The churches will open as shelters if they have an available personnel to get to the church.