William R Turner has served as the director of the Campbell County Office of Emergency Management since 2009. He served the previous ten plus years as Butler County, Ohio’s Emergency Management Director. Turner spent the prior ten years serving as the Area 10 Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator for the Kentucky Division of Disaster and Emergency Services (DES). He is a graduate of Owsley County High School and Eastern Kentucky University. Mr. Turner holds certifications in both Infrastructure Disaster Management and Infrastructure Protection from Texas A&M University. Mr. Turner is a Kentucky Certified Emergency Manager as awarded by the Kentucky Emergency Management Association.
Mr. Turner currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Northern Kentucky Hazardous Materials Unit. Mr. Turner is also a member of the Northern Kentucky Emergency Planning Committee.
Mr. Turner has a broad background in emergency management and emergency services having worked as Owsley County DES Director prior to working for Kentucky State Government. Turner has also served as Chairman of the Owsley County Chapter of the American Red Cross, Chairman of the Owsley County Local Emergency Planning Committee, as both President and Secretary/Treasurer of the Owsley County Rescue Squad, Chief of the Booneville-Owsley County Fire Department and Secretary of the Owsley County Fire District Board of Trustees. Turner was also a member of the Kentucky Emergency Management Assistance Committee for the state of Kentucky and served on the Governors Health Care Reform Round Table on Emergency Management and Medical Services.
While serving as Area Coordinator, Turner led the response to thirteen separate Presidential Disaster Declarations which included floods, tornado’s and winter storms. As Area Coordinator, Turner coordinated eight county emergency management agencies and supervised eight county EMA Directors. While serving as Owsley County director Turner obtained funds and supervised construction of the Owsley County Emergency Management Center and gained county funding for both the county EMA program and the county rescue squad.
Mr. Turner has been recognized for his work in being named Outstanding Employee of the Year with in the Kentucky Department of Military Affairs in 1991, the Meritorious Service Award by the Kentucky Division of Disaster and Emergency Services in 1998 and named the Volunteer of the Decade by the Owsley County Emergency Management Agency in 1995. Mr. Turner was awarded the Outstand Service Award by Kentucky Emergency Management in 2014. In 2015 the Kentucky Emergency Management Association named Mr. Turner “EMA Catalyst of the Year”.
While serving as the Director of the Butler County Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Turner led in the creation of the Butler County Technical Rescue Team and the enhancement of the Butler County Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Cooperative. Mr. Turner was also instrumental in the creation of an 800 MHz Countywide Public Safety Communications System. During his tenure as the EM director in Butler County, Turner obtained over $25 million dollars for emergency management and public safety improvements. Turner left Butler County in March 2009 with over one million dollars in Homeland Security Grants available for the county to construct a new emergency operations center.
Mr. Turner has served as Vice President (1999) and President (2000-2001) of the Western Ohio Emergency Management Association. Turner is a member of the International Association of Emergency Managers and the Kentucky Emergency Management Association.
Mr. Turner and his wife Laurie have two children Jessie and Tyler.
