RAPID CITY - The Pennington County Commission approved the appointment Tuesday of Anthony L. Carbajal as emergency management coordinator.

Carbajal will replace Park Owens, who is retiring, as head of the Rapid City-Pennington County emergency management department.

Carbajal is a former U.S. Coast Guard officer with 14 years of experience in emergency preparedness, emergency-response planning and public-information activities. He is a former public-affairs, contingency-planning and operations officer.

"It's a good fit. He's been in almost every single niche you can think of in emergency planning and emergency response," Owens said.

Owens said Carbajal has experience responding to major disasters, and he led a Coast Guard response team to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Carbajal, 33, lives in Memphis with his family but is originally from Belle Fourche. Carbajal will start June 25, and Owens will stay on until the end of July.

"We're trying to get four solid weeks of overlap," Owens said.

Owens has 37 years of emergency management related experience: 22 in the Air Force and the past 15 with Pennington County. Owens said he is leaving the county in good hands.

"I'm just going to do a John Elway and go out on top," Owens said. "I wanted to retire on my own terms rather than have someone suggest that I leave."

Owens said he doesn't have anything specific lined up after he leaves, but he and his wife plan to stay here.

However, he joked that he has three requirements for whatever he does next: no radios or pagers, no more than about 25 hours per week, and he gets to pick the people he works with.

"I'm going to be around. If they need a volunteer, I can see if my busy golf schedule will allow me to do it," he said. "It's probably one of the neatest jobs you can have in city or county government. There's always something different that keeps you fresh."

Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415 or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com