Spencer Hawkins walks through the doors of the Emergency Operation Center every day ready to get to work.
His office, however, used to serve a different purpose.
"There was a lot of concern about war, and war happening, so this building was built to make sure that people would be safe and the county could still operate," Hawkins said.
Once used as a protection from war, the EOC now serves as a hub for severe weather preparation and action plans.
Hawkins says his office even has become somewhat of a home when bad storms roll through.
"I was here for almost two weeks because we were running 24 hours trying to get the debris picked up and the power turned back on," Hawkins said referencing when Tropical Storm Irma hit last year.
But, whether it's monitoring river levels for flooding or watching radar, Hawkins says there's one overriding goal.
"For me, safety is the most important thing," Hawkins said, "and what I tell everybody is we can rebuild a road, we can rebuild a building, we can plant new trees, we can buy new cars; there's only one of you."
It only takes one storm to bring Central Georgia together.
"I work with all of my other EMA directors in our surrounding counties and we all work together to make some really good decisions," Hawkins said.
Those good decisions led to Spencer Hawkins being named Georgia's EMA director of the year, out of all of Georgia’s 159 counties.