BUCKHANNON – The Upshur County Commission President Terry Cutright now has the authorization to activate the county’s Emergency Operations Plan without the need for a special meeting.

During an emergency meeting Friday, the commission declared that a state of emergency exists in Upshur County, enabling the commission president to activate the Upshur County Emergency Operations Plan and the Emergency Operations Center to coordinate information and resources.

Assistant County Administrator Tabatha Perry said the proclamation that was signed at the meeting was a proactive step – one that will ensure county officials are prepared in advance.

“This will allow County Commission President Terry Cutright to activate the Emergency Operations Center and the Emergency Operations Plan, if they would need to, without having to have another special meeting,” Perry said.

She said the EOC has three different levels of activation depending on the scale of the event, and the county’s now at Level Three.

“Level Three is the lowest level of activation, where it’s minimal staffing and the monitoring stage and this pretty much revolves around our Department of Homeland Security Emergency Management person Brian Shreves,” Perry said. “Level Two would involve a larger number of staff from the area, and it’s more of a planning stage, and then Level One is the highest level, requiring the EOC agency to be open 24 hours.”

She said the plan includes a pandemic flu section the county will turn to if the offices need to respond.

“Right now, stakeholders are just keeping in constant communication and watching the CDC website guidelines and just mainly gathering as much information just staying up-to-date on what’s going on throughout the state and just on the monitoring stage right now,” Perry said.