Washington – Utah’s commissioner of public safety has been appointed to run the Federal Emergency Management Agency region based in Denver, filling a position that’s been vacant for more than two years.
Robert Flowers, a former police chief in southern Utah, was named to the post today.
The vacancy at Denver-based Region VIII and similar vacancies had been cited in the wake of Hurricane Katrina last year as an example of the Bush administration’s inattention to the beleaguered agency.
The regional director is chosen by the president and does not require Senate confirmation. According to Utah Gov. Jon(CQCQ) Huntsman’s office, Flowers is to begin at FEMA Aug. 7.
“Bob has served Utah tremendously well from the 2002 Winter Olympics Games to the floods of southern Utah,” Huntsman said in a statement.
Flowers began his service as director when appointed by former governor Michael Leavitt in the fall of 2000. He was reappointed by Huntsman in 2005.
“It has been an honor to serve as Utah’s Commissioner of Public Safety and I am looking forward to new challenges and opportunities at FEMA,” Flowers said in the statement issued by the governor’s office.
