INDEPENDENCE — Two weeks before the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Kenton County Judge-executive Dick Murgatroyd announced the creation of the Kenton County Homeland Security Task Force and renamed the Department of Emergency Management to reflect its new mission.

        “The time has come that we change our focus from planning for the traditional emergencies and prepare to deal with every form of hostile act against our people, including chemical and biological,” Mr. Murgatroyd said at a press conference Tuesday.

        “We must redouble our efforts to ensure the safety of our region's water supply, and we must carefully examine our evacuation plans for citizens in each community, lest we be caught unprepared in the event of a strike.”

        The task force — which will hold its first meeting within two weeks — will serve in an advisory role to the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, formerly known as the Department of Emergency Management. Ed Burk, the director of that department and a retired assistant Kenton County police chief, will serve as co-chairman of the task force with Kenton County Treasurer Ivan Frye, a retired Army major.

        Mr. Frye said the task force will take an active rather than a reactionary approach to potential terrorist threats and will widely disseminate details of any plans it develops to ensure that members of the public — not just emergency officials — know what to do in case of potential threats.

        Task force members will include the Kenton County sheriff, Kenton County police, the Kenton County jailer, the county's director of information technology and the Covington city manager. It also will include representatives from the American Red Cross, the Northern Kentucky Water District, Sanitation District No. 1, Cinergy, the Owen Rural Electric Cooperative, Cincinnati Bell, all Kenton County school districts, the Kenton County Fire Chiefs Association, the Kenton County Mayors Group and the Northern Kentucky Independent District Health Department.

        By bringing the various entities together, county officials hope to ensure that they are not duplicating efforts and can address any gaps in the county's existing emergency plan, which is updated annually, Mr. Burk said.

        The task force also will seek any available federal funds for emergency planning and equipment, as more details about new federal homeland security money are announced.

        Mr. Murgatroyd said the eight-county Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments ultimately could serve “as a natural region” that could bring the various Tristate governments together and ensure that they're not duplicating homeland security efforts.

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