Womack to step down as MEMA director

PEARL — Mike Womack says he will not continue to serve as director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency during the Phil Bryant administration.

Bryant, a Republican, will be sworn in as governor at noon Tuesday. Womack says Bryant asked him to stay on, but Womack told him the next MEMA director should be prepared to stay four or even more years.

Womack said he is ready to move on to something with more regular work hours, though he doesn’t have another job lined up.

The 58-year-old Womack retired from the National Guard in 2001 and started working at MEMA in 2002.

He became interim director in 2006 before being named director in December of that year.