Baldwin County commissioners voted Tuesday to promote Deputy Emergency Management Agency Director Reggie Chitwood to head the department, filling the role left open by the retirement of longtime director Mitchell Sims at the end of the month.
Chitwood will take over as director effective April 1, earning an annual salary of $90,000 in the new role. His promotion keeps continuity within the department’s leadership, since he had already been serving as deputy director before the commission’s decision.
Chitwood brings decades of public safety experience to the position. He spent 26 years as a law enforcement officer with the Arkansas Highway Police before retiring from that agency, and he has also held leadership roles in emergency response organizations at the national level, including serving as National Vice Commander for the United States Air Force Auxiliary’s Civil Air Patrol program.
On the education front, Chitwood is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and holds an Advanced Emergency Manager certification through the Alabama Association of Emergency Managers, a credential that reflects specialized training in coordinating disaster response, planning, and recovery efforts at the county level.
Baldwin County’s Emergency Management Agency plays a central role in coordinating the county’s response to hurricanes, severe weather, and other emergencies along the Gulf Coast, working alongside local fire departments, law enforcement agencies, and state emergency officials during major storms and other crises. The agency also handles emergency planning and public communication in the lead-up to hurricane season, a responsibility that carries particular weight in a coastal Alabama county regularly in the path of tropical systems.
Outgoing director Mitchell Sims led the department through a number of significant weather events during his tenure before his retirement, and county officials have said the leadership transition was planned well in advance to ensure a smooth handoff of emergency management duties. With Chitwood’s law enforcement background and national-level emergency management experience, county leaders expressed confidence that the agency would maintain its readiness heading into the upcoming storm season.