MOORE HAVEN — It has been a tumultuous year, 2020 has — yet the group of public servants at the Glades County Public Safety Department have found ways to advance their credentials and their coverage throughout the county in their first full year of providing 24/7/366 service. (Because it was a leap year, 2020 had 366 days.)

Because she was largely responsible for the progress, GCPS Director Angela S. Colegrove was awarded “Glades County Public Safety Employee of the Year” for 2020, on Friday, Dec. 18, at the department’s annual Christmas luncheon.

“I’m beyond thankful for being voted the Glades County Public Safety Employee of the Year. It’s been a rough year with COVID and operation changes, but I love a good challenge. I am blessed!” Colegrove wrote on her Facebook page Monday, Dec. 21.

In an interview on Dec. 23, she said the celebration followed safety guidelines. “We had a decent turnout. Not everybody was there, and we did the social distancing — facing all the tables out — and followed all the guidelines to make sure everybody was safe. A couple of family members were allowed to attend to see the awards,” she explained.
“I didn’t know I was getting it, so my family was sitting by me, and it came as a surprise!” she laughed.

They had the luncheon inside and outside the Emergency Operations Center fire bay.

Here’s what she had to say about the kind of year 2020 was for everybody at GCPS:
“Challenges: The main one was COVID-19. Getting supplies was really challenging. We had so many issues with the supply chain, and trying to get PPE (personal protective equipment) was really hard at first … Making sure that everybody was taken care of, and worrying about the employees was another challenge; you know, everyone was worried about each other.
“And then, operations-wise we’ve made some changes.”

Glades County went to full-time fire and emergency medical response for the whole county, but previously relied mostly on volunteer fire departments.

“In November when I took over, (it) was trying to get them on board and integrate them with everybody. It was difficult at first, you know, a little challenging, with the different personalities and stuff; but everything went well and is going well still,” Colegrove said.

“We’re working on training programs right now, education, some step programs for education, and moving forward with all that,” she added.

A consultant firm hired by the Glades County Board has been visiting and gathering information for an updated study of fire and medical emergency services countywide. The Glades County commissioners will consider imposing a new property assessment for sustained financing of fire and rescue coverage.

Said Colegrove: “Yes, we’ve actually gotten everything together as of last month, and we’re just sitting back waiting for them to do their study; but, we should have that back, they said in late February or early March.”

The Glades Board of County Commissioners will be examining results of that study with representatives of Government Services Group Inc. out of Tallahassee, which is updating the county’s previous study dating to 2014.