At their first meeting of the new year the Neosho City Council Tuesday night approved a new Acting Emergency Management Director. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.

Officially, Neosho’s new Fire Chief Aaron Houk starts today, but he was approved by a unanimous vote by the Neosho city council on Tuesday night as the city’s new Assistant Emergency Management Director. Houk might be new to the role as the head of the city’s fire department and Emergency Director but he has deep ties to Southwest Missouri starting his career as a volunteer in the Reeds Mill fire department. Councilmember Charles Collingsworth speaking Tuesday night at the meeting, “Mr. Mayor I would recommend that we approve Mr. Houk to become the acting Emergency Management Director, as it’s very important and really, we can’t operate with that.” Houk is replacing Jim Ledford who is retiring today after three years on the job. For 89 9 KRPS, I’m Fred Fletcher-Fierro