Tuscaloosa Mayor to Receive Nationwide Disaster Leadership Award

COLUMBIA, Md. - Oct. 28, 2022 - PRLog -- Longtime Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox has been chosen as the first recipient of a new nationwide award to honor city and county officials who lead their communities well through a major disaster.

The Tommy Longo Disaster Leadership Award was created by LeadersLink, a nonprofit that harnesses and shares elected officials' disaster lessons learned to help other communities better prevent, prepare for and recover from crises.

Nominations for the award came from around the country, with nominees leading recoveries from wildfires, floods, tornadoes and hurricanes.

The three-judge panel said Mayor Maddox was chosen because of the extraordinary job he did leading Tuscaloosa in the aftermath of a monster EF4 tornado that devastated the Alabama city in April 2011, killing 41 and damaging or destroying more than 5000 homes and 600 businesses.

"His previous training with FEMA was put into action as he led the response for his community and even more importantly formed the Rebuild Tuscaloosa Task Force which was instrumental in driving the recovery of Tuscaloosa," they wrote.

"While it took almost ten years, as it often does in large disasters, the community is so much better for Mayor Maddox's leadership in the disaster and in the recovery of his community."

Walt Maddox has been elected five times as mayor of Tuscaloosa and serves as a Harvard Kennedy School crisis leadership fellow.  The Wall Street Journal described the Tuscaloosa disaster recovery as an attempt to "courageously create a showpiece" of "unique neighborhoods that are healthy, safe, accessible, connected and sustainable."

The award is named after the late mayor of Waveland, Mississippi, John "Tommy" Longo.  He led the city's successful recovery from Hurricane Katrina and volunteered to serve as one of LeadersLink's first mentors, sharing what he had learned with other mayors whose towns had been damaged by hurricanes.

LeadersLink Founder and Executive Director Kathleen Koch will present the award November 8 at 3:30 p.m. at the Municipal Leadership Institute in Orange Beach, Alabama, organized by the Alabama League of Municipalities which nominated Maddox.

"As disasters become more frequent and severe, leaders like Mayor Maddox are a brain trust for those who follow," said Koch.  "Sharing what he and others learned who've led their cities through the worst can help speed the recoveries of communities struggling now after major disasters."

Family members of Mayor Longo will be in attendance to join in the presentation.

When:  3:30 p.m. / November 8, 2022

Where:  Perdido Beach Resort

27200 Perdido Beach Blvd.

Orange Beach, AL

For more details on LeaderLink, visit https://leaderslink.org.