Two new members are taking over for retiring veterans in the Howard County Emergency Management Agency. Casey Roberts and Kyle “Bubba” Conrow were hired by the county commission to take over for longtime EMA co-directors Bryan Kunze and Bill John.

Both Roberts and Conrow are employed by the Columbia Fire Department but alternate their shifts so that at least one of them is on duty in the event of an emergency.

Kunze and John took over the office in 2006 after they had both retired from long careers with the Fayette Police Department, for which Kunze served as City Marshal (Chief of Police) for 24 years, and John ended his career as Captain of the department.

Since then, they have led the county response through tornadoes, winter storms, historic flooding, and half a dozen Presidential Disaster Declarations. They’ve also secured grants to help bolster county infrastructure. Both gave high praise for Conrow and Roberts.

“Those two guys are going to do a phenomenal job. I have all the faith in the world for them,” John said.

The two men were essentially hand-picked by the old guard.

“They approached us a few years ago,” Conrow explained. “We shadowed them. We knew it was something we could probably do, but we’ve got a lot to learn.”

Roberts and Conrow enter their new roles with some of the best teachers. John and Kunze have just about seen it all. Three months after taking over the county EMA office 18 years ago, they dealt with a tornado that caused around $20 million of damage in Glasgow and Armstrong. 

“That was baptism by fire. We were a little out of our element. But it all came out alright,” Kunze said.

Countywide flooding in 2019 and 2021 later bookended the world-crippling COVID-19 pandemic.

The chapter in the EMA manual for dealing with pandemics was just two paragraphs long, and Kunze said it went completely out the window when COVID-19 swept the globe.

“We didn’t know much about it. We used to think that if you ended up getting COVID, you ended up dying from it,” Kunze recalled.

The two men worked overtime with state and federal emergency management agencies, securing supplies and drinking water for Howard County. For their leadership, they were named the 2021 Distinguished Citizens of the Year during the annual Fayette Board of Education awards ceremony.

While the transition is officially scheduled for August 1, Kunze and John have pretty much handed over the reins to the new generation.

Conrow said it has been comforting knowing that John and Kunze are leading them through the transition. “These guys are good mentors. We feel like we’re going to be set up for success. I think it will be a pretty smooth transition for us.”

John and Kunze said that while they are retiring—again—they are certainly not abandoning their posts. “Bill and I are going to be around for a while. All they have to do is pick up the phone,” Kunze said.

The county EMA office is located in the Keller Building, steps away from the 911 office.