Chapter 2.36
EMERGENCY RESPONSE OPERATIONS
Sections:
2.36.040 Director of emergency services.
2.36.050 Emergency response organization.
2.36.060 Emergency response plan.
2.36.010 Purposes.
The declared purposes of this chapter are:
A. To establish the city’s emergency response organization;
B. To provide for the preparation, adoption and implementation of plans for the protection of persons and property within the city and continuation of government in the event of an emergency; and
C. To coordinate the emergency functions of the city with all other public agencies, corporations, organizations, and affected private persons. (Ord. 2020-007 § 2, 2020; Ord. 2020-005 § 2, 2020)
2.36.020 Definitions.
As used in this chapter, the following definitions apply:
A. “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, war or threat of war; or other conditions that 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.
B. “Standardized emergency management system (SEMS)” shall mean the state-wide emergency response structure and protocols that have been established pursuant to Government Code Sections 8550 et seq., and Title 19, California Code of Regulations Sections 2400 et seq., in order to manage responses to multiagency and multijurisdictional emergencies and to facilitate communications and coordination between all levels of the system and all responding agencies. (Ord. 2020-007 § 2, 2020; Ord. 2020-005 § 2, 2020)
2.36.030 Disaster council.
A. A city disaster council is hereby created pursuant to Government Code Section 8610 and shall consist of the following:
1. The city manager, who shall be chair;
2. The police chief or such other city officer or employee as may be designated in writing by the city manager, who shall be vice chairman;
3. City officers or employees designated to serve on the disaster council in various capacities in the city’s emergency response plan adopted as provided in this chapter;
4. Such representatives of civic, business, nonprofit, labor, veterans, professional, or other organizations having emergency responsibilities, as may be appointed by the city manager.
B. The San Pablo disaster council shall develop and recommend for adoption by the city council an emergency response plan. The disaster council shall develop rules, regulations and agreements necessary to implement the emergency response plan.
C. The disaster council shall meet upon call of the chair or, if absent from the city or unable to call such meeting, upon call of the vice chair. (Ord. 2020-007 § 2, 2020; Ord. 2020-005 § 2, 2020)
2.36.040 Director of emergency services.
A. The city manager shall serve as director of emergency services and shall have the power and responsibility 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 the director of emergency services proclaims a local emergency, 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 of emergency services, the locally 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 coordination of services and staff of the emergency organization of the city and resolve questions of authority and responsibility that may arise between them;
5. Represent the city in all dealings with public or private agencies on matters pertaining to emergencies as defined in Section 2.36.020;
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 or the director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, the director of emergency services is 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 must 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 life and property and to bind the city for the fair value thereof and if required immediately to commandeer the same for public use;
c. To require emergency services of any city officer or employee and to command the aid of as many citizens of this community as the director of emergency services deems necessary in the execution of duties. Such persons shall be entitled to all privileges, benefits, and immunities as are provided by state law for registered disaster service workers;
d. To requisition necessary personnel or material of any city department or agency; and
e. To execute all of the special powers conferred by this chapter or by resolution or emergency response plan adopted by the city council, all powers conferred by any statute, and by any other lawful authority.
B. The director of emergency services shall designate the order of succession to that office, to take effect in the event the director is unavailable to attend meetings or otherwise perform duties during an emergency. (Ord. 2020-007 § 2, 2020; Ord. 2020-005 § 2, 2020)
2.36.050 Emergency response organization.
A. All officers and employees of the city, together with 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 impressed into service under the provisions of the chapter, be charged with duties incident to the protection of life and property in the city during such emergency, shall constitute the emergency response organization of the city.
B. In the event of an emergency and the activation of the city’s emergency operations center, the city’s emergency response organization shall fulfill the roles and have the duties and responsibilities provided for in the city’s emergency response plan.
C. Pursuant to Government Code Section 31000 et seq., all city employees are deemed disaster service workers unless determined otherwise by the director of emergency services. (Ord. 2020-007 § 2, 2020; Ord. 2020-005 § 2, 2020)
2.36.060 Emergency response plan.
A. The city emergency response plan shall provide for the effective mobilization of all resources of the city, both public and private, to meet any condition constituting an emergency; shall provide for the organization, powers and duties, services, and staff of the emergency response organization; and shall conform in all material respects to the requirements of the statewide standardized emergency management system (SEMS).
B. Any expenditures 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. (Ord. 2020-007 § 2, 2020; Ord. 2020-005 § 2, 2020)
2.36.070 Violation—Penalty.
A. Pursuant to Government Code Section 36900, it shall be a misdemeanor, punishable as provided in Section 1.08.020, for any person, during an emergency, to:
1. Willfully obstruct, hinder, or delay any member of the city’s emergency response organization in the enforcement of any lawful rule or regulation issued pursuant to this chapter or in the performance of any duty imposed by virtue of this chapter;
2. 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;
3. Wear, carry, or display, without authority, any means of identification specified by the emergency agency of the state.
B. In the discretion of the city attorney, a misdemeanor violation of this chapter may be chargeable as an infraction pursuant to Penal Code Section 19.6. (Ord. 2020-007 § 2, 2020; Ord. 2020-005 § 2, 2020)