Minnesota Mayor To Receive Nationwide Disaster Leadership Award

CLARKSVILLE, Md. - Rezul -- The mayor of a Minnesota city devastated last year by a destructive derecho is receiving nationwide recognition for his leadership during the weather crisis.

Bemidji, Minnesota Mayor Jorge Prince will be the fourth recipient of the Tommy Longo Disaster Leadership Award, a nationwide award to honor city and county officials who lead their communities well through a major disaster.

The award was created by LeadersLink, a nonprofit that harnesses and shares elected officials' disaster lessons learned to help other communities better prevent, prepare for and recover from major crises.

Nominations for the award came from around the country, with nominees leading recoveries from wildfires, floods, tornadoes and hurricanes.

The three-judge panel said Mayor Prince was chosen because he'd done an extraordinary job leading Bemidji when the straight-line wind event, called a derecho, swept through the city of 15,000 on June 21, damaging hundreds of homes and businesses and causing widespread power outages.  The hurricane-force 120 mph winds caused $10 million in damage to city-owned buildings alone and destroyed an estimated nine million trees there and in the surrounding county.

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"Mayor Prince demonstrated exceptional leadership and resilience during the derecho," the judges wrote.  "His ability to guide the community to a swift and robust recovery while working to implement innovative measures to protect against future threats truly sets him apart as a leader dedicated to long-term community wellbeing."

The award is named after the late mayor of Waveland, Mississippi, John Thomas "Tommy" Longo.  Longo led the city's successful recovery from Hurricane Katrina and volunteered to serve as one of LeadersLink's first mentors, sharing what he had learned with other mayors whose towns had been damaged by hurricanes.

LeadersLink Founder and Executive Director Kathleen Koch will present the award to Mayor Prince in the coming months at an event in Minnesota.  The League of Minnesota Cities nominated Prince for the award.

"As disasters become more frequent and severe, leaders like Mayor Prince are a brain trust for those who follow," said Koch.  "Sharing what disaster veterans like him have learned can help speed the recoveries of other communities struggling after major disasters."

For more information, go to http://leaderslink.org/