Like other counties across the country, Barrow and Cobb counties in Georgia understand the need for preparedness and continuity in an emergency. They know natural disasters, cyberattacks, and other critical events can disrupt local government operations for days, hours, or even longer. They also realize that constituents’ needs must be served regardless of the situation.  

Accordingly, Barrow and Cobb counties strive to maintain current and, most importantly, actionable continuity plans. And that effort involves a partnership with BOLDplanning, a division of Agility Recovery, for expert guidance and the use of the company’s time-tested, cloud-based platform.   

Barrow County 

In keeping with its commitments, BOLDplanning recently conducted a Continuity of Operations (COOP) Finalization Workshop for Barrow County. The single-day workshop was the last phase of the planning project that began in May this year. Its purpose was to allow county departments to put the finishing touches on their plans, all of which feed into the county’s overarching COOP. 

Among the participating departments were Barrow County Administration, the District Attorney’s Office, Economic Development, Elections, Emergency Services, Finance, Human Resources, Leisure Services/Senior Center, Planning and Zoning, Public Works, and the Sheriff’s Department.   

The workshop was led by BOLDplanning’s manager of training and customer solutions, Kayla McMahan, CBCP. “Special thanks to Penny Clack, Barrow County’s EMA director, and Mikaelynn Brumit for seeing this project through to completion,” said Kayla. “Congratulations on a job well done!”  

Cobb County 

Cobb County, or more specifically, the Cobb County Emergency Management Agency, hosted a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Refresher Workshop for its many departments on November 1, 2022.  

Workshop participants were provided training on the BOLDplanning.com platform (dubbed CobbContinuity.com) by BOLDplanning’s manager of global solutions, James Woulfe, CBCP. James reminded everyone of the importance of keeping all continuity plans up to date and shared best practices for each planning element.  

The partnership between Cobb County and BOLDplanning dates back five years, when the first series of BCP Workshops kicked off in August 2017. Since then, the county has made substantial progress toward developing (and honing) its continuity plan and strengthening its preparedness. 

On behalf of the entire company, thank you to Sydney Melton with the Cobb County Emergency Management Agency. Her assistance coordinating the workshop dates, location, and participant RSVPs was crucial to the workshop’s success. Â