S moke S ignals
JULY 15, 2016
7
Warden takes over Emergency Operations
By Brent Merrill
Smoke Signals staff writer
Steve Warden, the Tribe’s new
Emergency Operations coordinator,
readily acknowledges that he has
a tough act to follow in replacing
Jamie Baxter.
Baxter, whose last day with the
Tribe was also the day after the
huge Cascadia Rising event in
Grand Ronde and all over the Pa-
cific Northwest in early June, put
the Tribe on the proverbial map for
emergency services.
Warden said he looks at his new
position as both a challenge and an
opportunity.
“I honestly believe that we all
have a calling,” said Warden. “My
job, my calling, my desire is to be
a peacekeeper. Not an enforcer,
but a peacekeeper; somebody that
is there in the interest of public
safety. There are a lot of guys like
me who genuinely care.”
Warden, who lives in Newberg
with his 12-year-old daughter Ali-
yah, came to work in Grand Ronde
as a replacement Tribal police of-
ficer a couple of months ago when
there was a shortage of officers
in the Tribal Police Department.
Warden, with some prompting from
Tribal Police Chief Jake McKnight,
then found out Baxter would be
leaving and saw an opportunity.
Warden, who retired in 2011
after 27 years with the Yamhill
County Sheriff’s Office, has been
involved with law enforcement
and firefighting since he was in
high school. He said he grew up
with family members involved in
law enforcement and firefighting
and that he spent two years as a
reserve officer before becoming a
full-time officer.
“I know I was born to do this
stuff,” said Warden. “That’s the
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Steve Warden is the Tribe’s new Emergency Operations coordinator.
bottom line answer is you can’t do
this job and do it well unless you
care about people.”
Despite retiring, Warden kept
working for the department as
a part-time deputy in Yamhill
County. He also recently finished
a stint as the battalion chief of the
Newberg Fire Department and he
has been on the state fire marshal’s
incident management team for
several years.
“I think he will be a great fit,”
said Tribal General Manager Dave
Fullerton. “He’s going to be a great
asset. Obviously he has big shoes
to fill, but he is connected to the
community. I think it will be a good
transition.”
Fullerton had high praise for
Baxter and said that he is happy to
have someone of Warden’s caliber
step in and guide the program into
the future.
“I think she (Baxter) did an amaz-
ing job,” said Fullerton. “She got
the program off the ground. She
Ad created by George Valdez
was already networked and not
only locally, she was networked
nationally. She brought the Tribal
emergency management team to
the forefront with state emergency
management and national emer-
gency management.
“Now we have this person who is
ready to go; ready to pick the ball
up. He is ready to take on what
Jamie has done and continue to
move it forward. He’s going to be a
great resource.”
McKnight agreed that Baxter
did a great job as the Tribe’s first
Emergency Operations coordinator.
McKnight also said he has known
Warden for many years and that he
is confident in his ability to step in
and do a great job.
“Jamie did an outstanding job
of getting the emergency manage-
ment plan and getting all the re-
sources we need for an emergency,”
said McKnight. “She pretty much
started from ground zero and gave
us exactly what we needed for any
kind of emergency that the Tribe
might have right now. We’re going
to be the emergency hub for Polk
County and that’s really important.
“Steve is a guy I could call on or
talk to any time I needed any kind
of assistance or help. I worked with
Steve quite a bit.”
McKnight said anytime he need-
ed something related to Yamhill
County, Warden was quick to
help. McKnight also said it takes
a certain type of person to handle
the results of a major disaster or
emergency and remain calm and
effective.
“Not everybody can do that type
of work,” said McKnight. “He really
likes how the Tribe works and how
we are a big family and everyone is
out to help each other. He is a good
guy. He’s going to be good for the
Tribe. He’s easy to talk to.”
Warden said his first couple of
weeks on the job have been getting
acclimated to his new position and
conducting a physical inventory
of all the safety program equip-
ment and assets. He said he has
been getting familiar with all the
grant-related paperwork that goes
with the program.
Maintaining a high level of pre-
paredness in regard to weath-
er-related issues is something that
Warden sees as a practical use of
his time and the program’s resourc-
es. He said in the future months the
program will look to have everyone
on the same page in regard to low
frequency, but high-risk weather
events.
“It’s something we need to make
sure we are maintaining our pre-
paredness levels on so we know
where to go and who to talk to for
certain resources,” said Warden. “I
think particularly as our resident
population grows out here, keeping
up with those needs and making
sure that the organization is able
to prepare for those types of emer-
gencies when they come down the
pipe is huge.”
Warden said he likes working in
the West Valley and always has.
“Honestly, this is like coming
home for me,” said Warden, who
worked out of a Yamhill County
Sheriff’s Office substation in Sheri-
dan for years. “A lot of the faces I’m
seeing now are the people I talked
with and visited with.”
Former Yamhill County Sheriff
Jack Crabtree said he has worked
with Warden since he began his
career in law enforcement in 1985.
Warden began his career with Yam-
hill County in 1984.
Crabtree, who retired after 12
years as sheriff in 2015 and now
works part-time for the McMin-
nville School District as a safety
manager, said he met Warden do-
ing ride-a-longs when he was still
a rookie working in the jail.
“I got to know his style and how
he operated and how he dealt with
the public,” Crabtree said. “A few
years later I ended up going to
patrol and I modeled some of how
I dealt with people based on how I
had seen him with people. I liked
his style because he is a people per-
son. He is competent at everything,
but he is great at his people skills.
I emulated a lot of his techniques
because they worked.”
Crabtree said he remembered
how much Warden liked being in
and working in the West Valley
area.
“That’s where he wanted to be
from day one,” said Crabtree.
“When he and I worked West Val-
ley that was going to be a good day
for him. He loves it out there and
he always has. When I heard he
was working for you guys I thought
that’s so perfect because West Val-
ley is home for him.”
Now that he is nearing the end
of his working career, Warden said
he wants to spend the next couple
of years building the Tribe’s Emer-
gency Operations program and
mentoring his program assistant
Brandy Bishop.
“Learning the subtleties of the
job will keep me engaged and mov-
ing forward,” said Warden. “I’m
going to be getting with Brandy
and assessing the entire program;
we will get some input from leader-
ship and see then which direction
to take it.
“We want to engage the different
Tribal departments and community
organizations so that they will want
to stay involved with us. We’re go-
ing to try to figure out what is best
for the community and we’re taking
the foundation that has already
been laid and we’re building the
house around it.”