The hallways of Charley English's Atlanta offices are lined with front-page newspaper clips depicting the many disasters he's quietly handled as head of Georgia's Emergency Management Agency. But there's no sign of any ink-stained reminder of the Jan. 28 ice storm that's still burned into the minds of many Atlanta residents.
English, who is set to be replaced in January as the agency's leader, knows he'll likely be most remembered for that storm. And he seems at ease with that.
In an interview Tuesday, he said his demotion to the No. 2 job was a "mutual decision" with Gov. Nathan Deal that gives him more time to tend to a sick relative. He'll spend the next months helping Jim Butterworth, Deal's pick to replace him, transition from leading soldiers at the Georgia National Guard to directing first-responders at GEMA.
The two have jarringly different personalities. English is a no-frills behind-the-scenes operator with decades in disaster response who still seems nervous when he has to make a speech. Butterworth is a take-charge type with a military background and political connections forged as a county commission chair and then GOP state senator.
"I don't have the natural leadership skills he does," said English. "I have a different style altogether. He's one of those charismatic leaders. And his political skill, having been in the Senate, dwarfs mine."
English said what he brings to the table is a career's worth of experience handling raging floods, deadly tornadoes and menacing hurricanes. But no natural disaster propelled him into the spotlight quite like the wintry blast in January that coated north Georgia roads with ice, causing a paralyzing traffic gridlock that turned short commutes into hours-long ordeals and left thousands of infuriated motorists and students stranded.
English said he made a litany of mistakes during the storm, including failing to wake Deal early Jan. 28 when forecasters updated winter warnings and waiting until hours after the gridlock seized metro Atlanta's streets to open a command center to respond to the mess.
Deal's political opponents seized on the state's lackluster response, and it seemed English's departure would be imminent. But the call never came, and English was able to resuscitate his image with a more proactive response to another round of wintry weather that struck two weeks later. He said he was thankful Deal didn't make a "scapegoat" out of him.
“He would have been very well justified in firing me after that first storm,” English said of Deal. “He hung with me, and I’m forever grateful for him hanging with me. Just like he’s hanging with me now.”
English is not the moping type. He spent much of the year implementing recommendations from a weather task force convened in the wake of the snowjam, including new measures to pre-treat highways in advance of icy weather and better coordination with school superintendents, forecasters and state leaders about incoming weather.
"It certainly wasn't the first mistake I've made in my life," he said of January's storms. "I think you can attest that I never got too down, I never got too high. I never got excited during the second storm, when things went much better."
He also offered an early warning to Butterworth: Don't expect to take too many vacation days.
"This job," English said, "is all-consuming."
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