Scott Johnson, who spent 17 years as Bedford County's Emergency Management Agency director and then one term as a county commissioner, has died, county government announced Thursday.
County Mayor Curt Cobb issued a proclamation in Johnson's honor and ordered flags at county government buildings lowered to half-staff. They will stay down until sunset on the day of his funeral.
"He professionalized that organization," Cobb said. "He led the state in EMA programs."
After the 9/11 attacks, local emergency management became part of the Homeland Security program, and Johnson remade the county's agency. The county had no working tornado sirens when he started. It has seven now. He set up a storm shelter network that became a model for the state, worked with schools, industries and government agencies on disaster plans, and coordinated emergency plans for big events like the Celebration and the Webb School Arts and Crafts Fair. He also served as a terrorism liaison officer for the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security.
He served under three county mayors. He meant to retire in 2020 but stayed on to help the county through the COVID-19 pandemic, then retired in 2021. After that he became a reserve deputy sheriff and logged a lot of hours. He was elected to the county commission the next year, a job his late father, Virgil Johnson, once held, and served until Aug. 31 of this year.
Before all of that, Johnson spent 23 years in the U.S. Air Force, mostly as a special agent investigating crimes and terrorism. He was scheduled for a meeting at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, but it was called off at the last minute. Afterward he was chief of investigations on the Department of Defense Terrorism Task Force, investigating suspected terrorists held at military prisons in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay. He retired as a lieutenant colonel, and he and his wife, Alice, moved home and settled in the Himesville area.
On Tuesday, Cobb asked the county's Courthouse and Property committee to name the EMA operations center at 1618 Railroad Ave. the Lt. Col. Scott Johnson Emergency Operations Center. The committee voted to recommend it. The full commission meets Nov. 10.
Johnson hosted "Gov Talk," a radio show and podcast on WLIJ, to help people understand how local government works. He was a longtime member of the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration board and served on or chaired several other boards, including E-911, Bedford Builds Habitat for Humanity, the Chamber of Commerce, United Way of Bedford County and the Celebration City Region Car Club.
A Shelbyville Central graduate, he earned a business and finance degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and a master's from Auburn University. He liked to run 5Ks and half marathons.
County officials described him as a people person, someone who made whoever he was talking with feel appreciated.
"He was just a good human being," Cobb said.
Johnson and Alice had two children.
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