About Task Force
It is the mission of the East Central PA Regional Task Force to serve as an organization responsible for supporting the efforts of the member counties to effectively prepare, plan, respond and recover from actual or anticipated incident.
The East Central PA Regional Task Force is composed of seven counties located next to each other geographically. The counties are: Berks, Columbia, Luzerne, Montour, Northumberland, Schuylkill, and Wyoming. Together these counties consist of 320 municipalities, 4,070 square miles, and over one million residents.
Officials from emergency management, fire departments, emergency medical services, police departments, hospitals, and others make up the task force. The Task Force is chaired by Arthur D. Kaplan, Schuylkill County Emergency Management Coordinator, and Walter Peters, Montour County Emergency Management Coordinator, serves as the vice-chair.
| Executive Board | |
| Arthur Kaplan - Chair Emergency Management Coordinator Schuylkill County |
Water Peters – Vice Chair Emergency Management Coordinator Montour County |
| Brian Gottschall, CEM Deputy Director for Emergency Management Services Berks County Department of Emergency Services 2561 Bernville Road Reading, PA 19605 Phone: (610)374-4800 X8202 Fax: (610)374-8865 |
Larry Lahiff Emergency Management Coordinator Columbia County |
| Stephen Bekanich Emergency Management Coordinator Luzerne County |
Stephen Jeffrey Operations & Training Officer Northumberland County |
| Eugene Dziak Emergency Management Coordinator Wyoming County |
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| Task Force Committees | |
| Fire / Haz Mat Joe Spotts – Chair Pottsville Fire Department |
Health / Medical Tim Malchitsky – Chair Geisinger North Medical Center |
| Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Susan Smith – Chair Schuylkill County GIS |
Business / Industry / Infrastructure Professor Jan Kaskey – Chair Keystone College |
| Law Enforcement Leo Sokoloski – Chair Bloomsburg Police Department |
Information Services Susan Smith – Chair Schuylkill County |
