O.B. Police & Firefighter Awards

O.B. Police & Firefighter Awards
More than 100 people turned out for the November Community Potluck and annual Orange Beach police and firefighter awards ceremony on Monday, Nov. 5th at the Community Center. Orange Beach Police Chief Joe Fierro announced Sgt. Jeremy Mote as the 2018 Officer of the Year and Animal Control Officer Tom Conerly as the Police Department’s 2018 Employee of the Year. Due to SWAT team leader training in Birmingham, Sgt. Mote could not attend the ceremony but his wife, Carla and their children accepted the award on his behalf. On the Fire Department’s side, Chief Justin Pearce awarded the 2018 Firefighter of the Year to Battalion Chief Jeff Smith. Battalion Chief Smith’s brother Joby Smith, Emergency Management Division Chief in Hurricane Michael-battered Bay County, Florida, was a surprise attendee. “I’d first like to thank the council and mayor for coming and the Orange Beach Community Center Association for hosting this tonight. We appreciate it,” said Police Chief Joe Fierro. “Just a little something on how we chose the officer and we also have a non-sworn, in what we’re calling the civilian of the year award. We have within the police department an employee advisory committee; we decided to go to quarterly awards for each position and from those we chose our annual recipient.”