New 911 director and director of NEA Regional Transportation Planning hired
by July 6, 2021 8:55 am 542 views
Northeast Arkansas’s largest city and county has a new 911 director and a new director of Northeast Arkansas Regional Transportation Planning.
Ronnie Sturch was selected by the 911 Intergovernmental Board to serve as E-911 director for Jonesboro and Craighead County. Alan Pillow was promoted internally by the Jonesboro Metropolitan Planning Organization and Craighead County to director of Northeast Arkansas Regional Transportation Planning.
“I am extremely pleased with the caliber of these two hires,” Jonesboro Mayor Copenhaver said. “I think the public will find they will be well served by these two individuals.”
Sturch, of Marion, served five years in the Crittenden County 911 Emergency Communications office and has a lengthy list of certifications and training in the meticulous field of emergency response.
Sturch replaces Jeff Presley, who served as E-911 Director since 2007 and was with the department 29 years. Sturch was chosen from 22 candidates by the oversight board, composed of the Jonesboro mayor, police and fire chiefs, the Craighead County judge and sheriff, and one other Craighead County mayor.
A Jonesboro native who moved to West Memphis as the son of a pastor, Sturch started as a firefighter and dispatcher in the West Memphis Fire Department at the age of 21.
“I’m excited and ready to go to work,” Sturch said. “I’m ready to make that 911 center the model for the state, and that doesn’t mean massive changes but identify what we’re doing right and what we might be able to improve on.”
Pillow, of Paragould, is an Arkansas State University graduate who has spent the past two years in the Northeast Arkansas Regional Transportation Planning office planning short- and long-term transportation, traffic and pedestrian studies and data analysis.
“My job is to ensure the vision of a comprehensive plan for a safe, equitable and efficient transportation that has been laid out,”
The MPO Board includes mayors and other elected officials around Craighead County.