ABSTRACT
In general, by law the highest elected local official carries the main decision-making responsibilities for emergency management. For county government in many states this could be the county judge or the head county commissioner. For city governments, depending upon the exact type of local government structure, it could be the mayor or the president of the city council. These elected officials have many different tasks to manage on a day-to-day basis, so they do not have time to oversee an emergency management department on a full-time, daily basis. As a result, elected officials delegate these crucial emergency management tasks to the designated local emergency manager.
