Chapter 2.56
CIVIL DEFENSE
Sections:
2.56.030 Civil defense and disaster council – Membership.
2.56.040 Civil defense and disaster council – Powers and duties.
2.56.050 Director and assistant director of emergency services.
2.56.060 Director and assistant director of emergency services – Powers and duties.
2.56.070 Civil defense and emergency organization.
2.56.110 Repeal of conflicting provisions.
2.56.010 Purpose of chapter.
The declared purposes of this chapter are to provide for the preparation and carrying out of plans for the protection of persons and property within the city in the event of an emergency and to provide for the coordination of the civil defense and emergency functions of the city with all other public agencies and affected private persons, corporations and organizations. Any expenditure made in connection with such civil defense and emergency activities, including mutual aid activities, shall be deemed conclusively to be for the direct protection and benefit of the inhabitants and property of the city. (Prior code § 3-2.01)
2.56.020 Definitions.
For the purposes of this chapter, unless otherwise apparent from the context, certain words and phrases used in this chapter are defined as follows:
“Civil defense” means the preparation for and the carrying out of all emergency functions, other than functions for which military forces are primarily responsible, to prevent, minimize and repair injuries and damages resulting from disasters. “Civil defense” does not include, nor does any provision of this chapter apply to, any condition relating to a labor controversy.
“Emergency” means the actual or threatened existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the city caused by such conditions as air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, earthquake, or other conditions, including conditions resulting from war or the threat of war, but other than conditions resulting from a labor controversy, which conditions are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment and facilities of the city, requiring the combined forces of other political subdivisions to combat. (Prior code § 3-2.02)
2.56.030 Civil defense and disaster council – Membership.
The city civil defense and disaster council is created and shall consist of the following:
A. The mayor, who shall be chairman;
B. The director of emergency services, who shall be vice chairman;
C. The assistant director of emergency services, appointed by the city manager with the advice and consent of the city council, who shall act as director in the absence or disability of the director;
D. The civil defense coordinator, appointed by the city manager with the advice and consent of the city council, who, under the supervision of the director and assistant director, shall develop civil defense and emergency service plans, organize the civil defense and emergency service program of the city and have such other duties as may be assigned by the director;
E. Such deputy directors and chiefs of city emergency services as are provided for in the current civil defense and emergency service operations plan of the city and as confirmed by the director; and
F. Such representatives of civic, business, labor, veterans, professional, or other organizations having an official group or organization civil defense and emergency service responsibility as may be appointed by the mayor with the advice and consent of the city council. (Ord. 1726 § 27 (part), 2011; prior code § 3-2.03)
2.56.040 Civil defense and disaster council – Powers and duties.
It shall be the duty of the civil defense and disaster council and it is empowered, to review and recommend for adoption by the city council civil defense and emergency services and mutual aid plans and agreements and such ordinances, resolutions, rules, and regulations as are necessary to implement such plans and agreements. The civil defense and disaster council shall meet upon the call of the chairman or, in his absence from the city or inability to call such meeting, upon the call of the vice-chairman. (Prior code § 3-2.04)
2.56.050 Director and assistant director of emergency services.
A. There is created the office of director of emergency services. The city manager shall be the director of emergency services.
B. There is created the office of assistant director of emergency services who shall be appointed by the director. (Ord. 1726 § 27 (part), 2011; prior code § 3-2.05)
2.56.060 Director and assistant director of emergency services – Powers and duties.
A. The director of emergency services is empowered to:
1. Request the city council to proclaim the existence or threatened existence of a local emergency, if the city council is in session, or to issue such proclamation if the city council is not in session. Whenever a local emergency is proclaimed by the director, the city council shall take action to ratify the proclamation within seven days thereafter, or the proclamation shall have no further force or effect;
2. Request the Governor to proclaim a state of emergency when, in the opinion of the director, the local available resources are inadequate to cope with the emergency;
3. Control and direct the effort of the emergency organization of the city for the accomplishment of the purposes of this chapter;
4. Direct cooperation between and the coordination of the services and staff of the emergency organization of the city and resolve questions of authority and responsibility which may arise between them;
5. Represent the city in all dealings with public and private agencies on matters pertaining to emergencies as defined in this chapter; and
6. In the event of the proclamation of a local emergency as provided in this section, the proclamation of a state of emergency by the Governor of the state or the director of the State Office Emergency Services, or the existence of a state of war emergency, the director is hereby empowered:
a. To make and issue rules and regulations on matters reasonably related to the protection of life and property as affected by such emergency; provided, however, such rules and regulations shall be confirmed at the earliest practicable time by the city council,
b. To obtain vital supplies, equipment and such other properties found lacking and needed for the protection of the life and property of the people and to bind the city for the fair value thereof, and, if required immediately, to commandeer the same for public use,
c. To require the emergency services of any city officer or employee and, in the event of the proclamation of a state of emergency in the county or the existence of a state of war emergency, to command the aid of as many citizens of the community as he deems necessary in the execution of his duties. Such persons shall be entitled to all the privileges, benefits and immunities as are provided by state laws for registered disaster service volunteers,
d. To requisition the necessary personnel or materials of any city department or agency, and
e. To execute all of his ordinary powers as city manager of the city, all of the special powers conferred upon him by this chapter or by resolution or emergency plan adopted pursuant thereto by the city council and all powers conferred upon him by any statute, agreement approved by the city council, or by any other lawful authority.
B. The director of emergency services shall designate the order of succession to that office which shall take effect in the event the director is unavailable to attend meetings and otherwise perform his duties during an emergency period. Such order of succession shall be approved by the city council.
C. The assistant director of emergency services, under the supervision of the director and with the assistance of the emergency services chiefs, shall develop emergency plans and manage the emergency programs of the city and shall have such other powers and duties as may be assigned by the director. (Ord. 1738 § 59, 2012; prior code § 3-2.06)
2.56.070 Civil defense and emergency organization.
All officers and employees of the city, together with those volunteer forces enrolled to aid them during an emergency, and all groups, organizations and persons who may by agreement or operation of law, including persons pressed into service under the provisions of subsection A6c of Section 2.56.060, be charged with duties incident to the protection of life and property in the city during such disaster, shall constitute the civil defense and emergency organization of the city. (Prior code § 3-2.07)
2.56.080 Emergency plan.
The city civil defense and disaster council shall be responsible for the development of the city emergency plan, which plan shall provide for the effective mobilization of all of the resources of the city, both public and private, to meet any condition constituting a local emergency, state of emergency, or state of war emergency and shall provide for the organization, powers and duties, services and staff of the emergency organization. Such plan shall take effect upon adoption by resolution of the city council. (Prior code § 3-2.08)
2.56.090 Expenditures.
Any expenditure made in connection with emergency activities, including mutual aid activities, shall be deemed conclusively to be for the direct protection and benefit of the inhabitants and property of the city. (Prior code § 3-2.09)
2.56.100 Violation – Penalty.
It is a misdemeanor for any person, during an emergency, to:
A. Wilfully obstruct, hinder, or delay any member of the emergency organization in the enforcement of any lawful rule or regulation issued pursuant to this chapter or in the performance of any duty imposed upon him by virtue of this chapter;
B. Do any act forbidden by any lawful rule or regulation issued pursuant to this chapter, if such act is of such a nature as to give, or be likely to give, assistance to the enemy, or to imperil the lives or property of inhabitants of the city, or to prevent, hinder, or delay the defense or protection thereof; or
C. Wear, carry, or display, without authority, any means of identification specified by the emergency agency of the state. (Ord. 1744 § 5, 2013: prior code § 3-2.10)
2.56.110 Repeal of conflicting provisions.
It is the intent of the city council in enacting this chapter that it shall be considered a revision and continuation of the provisions repealed by this chapter and the status of volunteers shall not be affected by such repeal; nor shall plans and agreements, rules and regulations, or resolutions adopted pursuant to such repealed provisions be affected by such repeal until amended, modified, or superseded as provided in this chapter. (Prior code § 3-2.11)
2.56.120 Severability.
If any provision or clause of this chapter or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity shall not affect the other chapter provisions or clauses or applications thereof which can be implemented without the invalid provision, clause, or application, and to this end the provisions and clauses of this chapter are declared to be severable. (Prior code § 3-2.12)