Citizen of the Year

Very few people went above and beyond in 2024 as much as Charles Wasdin did. Wasdin loves Hazlehurst and Jeff Davis County. He is always one of the first ones to help with anything going on – to volunteer his people to serve others, to put their lives on the line to protect others. In his role, he wears two hats. The first has helped our city and county be more prepared when fires hit. He oversaw the merger of the City and County fire departments, championed better fire services for our community, leading to a lower Insurance Service Office (ISO) rating for Jeff Davis County, which in turn meant better home insurance rates for residents. The second role he serves in is as our director of the Emergency Management Agency. In this role, he helps our community prepare and overcome storms and disasters. During Hurricane Helene, this individual and his staff were trapped inside the Emergency Operations Center after a generator stopped. However, he and his team still found ways to help our community and guide resources. During the hours after the storm, his health took a toll, and he had to be taken to the hospital. For most, that would have stopped them in their tracks, but in no time, he was back in Hazlehurst leading the charge. Post storm, he held briefings to keep the entire community on the same page, provided updates on how recovery was going, coordinated FEMA and GEMA response in our community, worked to have mutual aid from other fire departments come to our community to assist with fires while our local fire department worked emergency operations, and continued to look for grants and funding to help our community during the long-term recovery process. Charles Wasdin went above and beyond for every single one of us to help keep us safe and bring our community back to something that resembled pre-Helene.Very few people went above and beyond in 2024 as much as Charles Wasdin did. Wasdin loves Hazlehurst and Jeff Davis County. He is always one of the first ones to help with anything going on – to volunteer his people to serve others, to put their lives on the line to protect others. In his role, he wears two hats. The first has helped our city and county be more prepared when fires hit. He oversaw the merger of the City and County fire departments, championed better fire services for our community, leading to a lower Insurance Service Office (ISO) rating for Jeff Davis County, which in turn meant better home insurance rates for residents. The second role he serves in is as our director of the Emergency Management Agency. In this role, he helps our community prepare and overcome storms and disasters. During Hurricane Helene, this individual and his staff were trapped inside the Emergency Operations Center after a generator stopped. However, he and his team still found ways to help our community and guide resources. During the hours after the storm, his health took a toll, and he had to be taken to the hospital. For most, that would have stopped them in their tracks, but in no time, he was back in Hazlehurst leading the charge. Post storm, he held briefings to keep the entire community on the same page, provided updates on how recovery was going, coordinated FEMA and GEMA response in our community, worked to have mutual aid from other fire departments come to our community to assist with fires while our local fire department worked emergency operations, and continued to look for grants and funding to help our community during the long-term recovery process. Charles Wasdin went above and beyond for every single one of us to help keep us safe and bring our community back to something that resembled pre-Helene.