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Carbon EMA coordinator announces retirement

Carbon County’s Emergency Management Agency coordinator will end a more than 21-year career in October, saying it’s time to retire and spend quality time with his family.

Mark Nalesnik, who started in the role in June 2003, said he’ll turn 70 in a few months and feels now is the time to step away from a job that he has loved and focus on family.

“It is with mixed emotions,” he said Thursday morning after county commissioners approved his retirement effective Oct. 2. “I know I’ll have tears in my eyes when the time comes because I do love the job.

“But I believe it’s the right time — that’s the only way I can put it,” Nalesnik said seated at his desk in his office along Emergency Lane in Nesquehoning.

Behind him on the wall hang three levels of certifications from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency — basic, advanced and professional, along with the International Association of Emergency Managers and others.

Nalesnik’s credentials and certifications easily fill 2 four-inch ring binders, but that’s not what he wanted to focus on.

Instead, Nalesnik was thankful for the privilege to serve the people of Carbon County in a job that had him on call 24/7, 365 days a week, and to work with dedicated and professional emergency responders throughout the county.

“Our county emergency services — meaning fire departments, police and emergency medical — are amazing in the way they train, plan and prepare to respond to these incidents,” he said.

“It was a privilege and a pleasure to work with all of those services during this time because they are so professional and serious about the work they do,” Nalesnik said.

Large tropical storms, major floods and hurricanes where the county’s Emergency Operations Center went into action are among the most memorable events of his career, he said.

“Storms, such as Irene and Lee, and then Sandy after that, and then there was a storm in 2007, I believe, an ice storm that went on for weeks and weeks,” Nalesnik said.

The work the Emergency Management did with the pandemic, getting needed personal protective equipment to emergency providers, as well as to nursing homes, will also remain with him, he said.

Another emergency that Nalesnik won’t soon forget was the rescue of more than 200 girls who were rafting in extreme conditions on the Lehigh River in 2018.

“That was a big event that had us all on edge for a while until the water rescue teams and dive teams got out there. That caused us a lot of concern, life safety concerns,” he said, noting all of the girls survived.

Commissioners Wayne Nothstein and Rocky Ahner wished Nalesnik the best in his retirement, and Nothstein joked that maybe he’ll be able to have a successful deer hunt when he’s not called out on an emergency.

Nalesnik, also an avid fly fisherman, pointed out there were more times he was waist-deep in a river fishing when the pager went off than in the woods deer hunting.

“I can remember many times that happening, and I would just laugh about it,” Nalesnik said about shortened fishing excursions. “That’s part of the job.

“If there’s a need for any kind of help out there, I know that’s what I’m supposed to do, and it was a pleasure to do it,” he said.

The county salary board established the position of an emergency management trainee at a rate of $22.19 an hour.

The commissioners hope to advertise and fill the position as soon as possible, Nothstein said, to allow as much time as possible for a successor to work with Nalesnik.

The two-month window will be tight, and it takes a special kind of person to take a job that has them on call 24/7, attend night meetings and training and work through holidays and special events, he said.

“You have to be committed,” Nothstein said. “You have to have it in your blood. It takes a lot of time, commitment and sacrifice of family life for a position like this. So, hopefully, we’ll get some applications or good qualified people and go from there.”

Nalesnik’s advice for the county’s next emergency management coordinator is simple.

“Approach it from the public safety point of view, keeping that as the first and foremost priority,” he said. “But think about customer service … we want to serve the citizens of Carbon County with their best interests at heart.”

Carbon County Emergency Management Coordinator Mark Nalesnik, who has served in the position for nearly 22 years, will retire on Oct. 2. The county commissioners began the process to replace him this week. KELLY MONITZ SOCHA/TIMES NEWS
Mark Nalesnik, Carbon County’s emergency management coordinator for nearly 22 years, will be retiring Oct. 2. The county commissioners on Thursday began the process of finding a person to replace him this week. KELLY MONITZ SOCHA/TIMES NEWS
Mark Nalesnik, Carbon County’s emergency management coordinator, stands in the Emergency Operations Center, the county’s main command post in the event of an emergency. Nalesnik will be retiring on Oct. 2. KELLY MONITZ SOCHA/TIMES NEWS