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By Mike McCormick Reporter
Washita County’s new Emergency Management Director began his new job May 1, two months after the COVID-19 outbreak began.
Kenneth Trent said he spent seven years working for County Commission District 3 as a road grader and truck operator before taking over as Emergency Management director, succeeding Sandy Settle.
“My main thing right now is obtaining and distributing PPE for the schools and doing training,” Trent said earlier this week.
Trent pointed out that he has recently distributed 2,900 masks for students, 1,600 masks for teachers and 145 face shields to the four schools in Washita County, including Cordell, Burns Flat-Dill City, Canute and Sentinel.
Another part of his duties has been getting gloves and masks for the first responders throughout the county.
Trent said as of Monday 45 people in Washita County had tested positive for COVID-19. “That includes seven new cases,” he added. “There are 12 active cases in the county,” he noted.
He said the county’s population is 11,127 and there are 1,003 square miles.
Since Trent took over the position, he has completed his FEMA training. “It’s supposed to take a year, but I got it done in two months. I’m trying to get as much of the training done as I can.”
Currently he is working on weather training called OK-First Certification. It’s an online class.
“It is to get a better understanding of how the weather works, how to read a radar and things like that,” he related.
Trent pointed to another one of his responsibilities. “I’m doing safety training meetings for the three county commission district yards. I also have to do it for all of the Courthouse employees,” he explained.
Concerning COVID, Trent believes the county’s numbers are as good as they are because, “We’re being aware and I think people are serious about it taking proper precautions. I encourage everyone to do what they can do and get this over with so we can move forward and get on with our lives.”
Trent and his twin sister Laura are both Cordell High School graduates of the Class of 2001.