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Emergency Chief Leaving As Irma Rebuilding Begins

Naples Daily News

Two weeks after Hurricane Irma’s horrific pounding, and with two months left in the Atlantic Hurricane season, Florida’s emergency management chief is heading out the door.

Division of Emergency Management Director Bryan Koon will be stepping down from the 141 thousand-dollar-a-year post on Sunday, according to an announcement by Governor Rick Scott.

Scott praises Koon’s performance in the announcement but says only that he is leaving to pursue another opportunity in the private sector.

Koon’s chief of staff, Wes Maul, will serve as interim director. Some news accounts are raising questions about his qualifications. A former Scott campaign aide, Maul has only been Koon’s chief of staff for a year.

Koon was one of Scott’s first appointments in 2011. He worked previously as a disaster response coordinator for retail giant Wal-Mart.

A Miami native, former WFSU reporter Jim Ash is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years of experience, most of it in print. He has been a member of the Florida Capital Press Corps since 1992.