Jacksonville names local paramedic Phil McCarty as emergency coordinator

When storms, fires or hazardous-material incidents hit Morgan County, Jacksonville will soon rely on a lifelong local with years inside the county’s emergency system. Phil McCarty, 38, has been named Jacksonville/Morgan County Emergency Management & 911 Coordinator and will begin in mid-December, taking over a position that had been held for more than 30 years.

McCarty has lived in Jacksonville his entire life and has built his career around public safety. He has worked at GTSI for 12 years, serves as a deputy coroner for Morgan County, works as a paramedic, volunteers with the Chatham Fire District and has taught at Lincoln Land Community College for more than nine years. The appointment puts a familiar name into a job that depends as much on local relationships as on technical knowledge.

The emergency-management side of the post reaches well beyond office work. The Jacksonville/Morgan County Office of Emergency Management coordinates City, County, State and Federal resources during disasters, helping limit damage and speed recovery. Its director also chairs the Local Emergency Planning Committee, which receives information about hazardous materials, the quantities involved and where those materials are stored in facilities across Morgan County.

The 911 portion of the job carries its own set of responsibilities. McCarty will handle administrative duties, compliance, funding and keeping state regulations current through the Illinois Commerce Commission. That work connects directly to the West Central Joint Dispatch Center, which provides 9-1-1 and emergency dispatch services for law enforcement, fire and EMS. The West Central Emergency Telephone System Board includes 13 members drawn from emergency-response agencies and county boards in Morgan, Greene and Calhoun counties.

The dispatch center itself grew out of a joint effort between the City of Jacksonville, the Morgan County Board, Passavant Hospital and the West Central ETSB. For Morgan County residents, that means the same system that answers emergency calls also helps coordinate the agencies that respond when seconds matter.

McCarty was already a visible part of that system before this appointment. In November 2025, he said Morgan and Scott counties were working together on natural-hazard mitigation because the counties help each other during disasters and do not have enough funding to do long-term planning on their own. He also described that planning as identifying preventive steps to reduce dollar damages and protect public health before a natural hazard occurs.

His profile in emergency services has also drawn recognition. The West Central Joint Dispatch Center received accreditation recognition from the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch, and McCarty was later named Illinois National Emergency Number Association ETSB Director/911 Coordinator of the Year.

The county’s emergency-management mission now falls to someone who already knows the roads, institutions and pressure points that shape response in Jacksonville and across Morgan County.