Chino Hills Municipal Code Ch. 2.44 Disaster Relief

The purpose of this chapter is to provide for the preparation and carrying out of plans for the protection of persons and property within the city in the event of the emergency or disaster conditions hereinafter referred to; the direction of the disaster corps; and the coordination of the disaster functions of the city with the county and with all other public agencies, corporations, organizations, and affected private persons.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.010)

As used in this chapter:

A. "State of war emergency" means the condition which exists immediately, with or without a proclamation thereof by the Governor, whenever this state or nation is attacked by an enemy of the United States, or upon receipt by the state of a warning from the federal government indicating that such an enemy attack is probable or imminent.

B. "State of emergency" means the duly proclaimed existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the state caused by such conditions as air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, drought, sudden and severe energy shortage, plant or animal infestation or disease, the Governor's warning of an earthquake or volcanic prediction, or an earthquake or other conditions, other than conditions resulting from a labor controversy or conditions causing a state of war emergency, which conditions, by reason of the magnitude, are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of any single county, city and county, or city and require the combined forces of a mutual aid region or regions to combat, or with respect to regulated energy utilities, a sudden and severe energy shortage requires extraordinary measures beyond the authority vested in the California Public Utilities Commission.

C. "Local emergency" means the duly proclaimed existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the territorial limits of a county, city and county, or city caused by such conditions as air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, drought, sudden and severe energy shortage, plant or animal infestation or disease, the Governor's warning of an earthquake or volcanic prediction, or other conditions, other than conditions resulting from a labor controversy, which conditions are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of that political subdivision and require the combined forces of other political subdivisions to combat, or with respect to regulated energy utilities, a sudden and severe energy shortage requires extraordinary measures beyond the authority vested in the California Public Utilities Commission.

D. Other terms used in this chapter shall have meanings as used in the California Emergency Services Act.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.020)

The City of Chino Hills Disaster Council is created and established and shall consist of the following individuals:

A. The City Manager who shall be the Chair of the Council;

B. The Coordinator of the Office of Emergency Services who shall be designated by the City Manager and who shall serve as Vice-Chair of the Council;

C. Such chiefs of emergency services as are provided for in a current emergency plan of this city, adopted pursuant to this chapter;

D. Such representatives of civic, business, labor, veterans, professional, or the organizations having an official emergency responsibility, as may be appointed by the Coordinator of the Office of Emergency Services with the advice and consent of the City Council.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.025)

It shall be the duty of the City of Chino Hills Disaster Council, and it is empowered, to develop and recommend for adoption by the City Council, emergency and mutual aid plans and agreements and such ordinances and resolutions and rules and regulations as are necessary to implement such plans and agreements. The Disaster Council shall meet upon the call of the Council's Chair or in the Chair's absence from the city or inability to call such meeting, upon the call of the Council's Vice-Chair.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.026)

The city disaster corps consists of all officers and employees of the city and its agencies, together with all volunteers and all groups, organizations, and persons commandeered under the provisions of the California Emergency Services Act and this chapter, with all equipment and material publicly owned, volunteered, commandeered, or in any way under the control of the personnel mentioned in this section, for the support of the personnel mentioned in this section, in the conduct of disaster operations. The disaster corps shall be composed of such elements as are provided for in the emergency management plan of the city. The officers of the city shall have the authority and duty to plan for mobilization, operation, and support of that segment of the disaster corps for which each is responsible as provided for in the emergency management plan of the city, and to conduct the activities of such emergency. The plan shall clearly define the roles and responsibilities of the Mayor and City Council.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.030)

The disaster corps shall be activated and shall function as a disaster relief body, only:

A. Upon the existence of a state of war emergency;

B. Upon the declaration by the Governor of the state, or of persons authorized to act in his or her stead, of a state of emergency affecting and including the city;

C. Upon the declaration of a local emergency by the Board of Supervisors of San Bernardino County, or by persons authorized to act in its stead, affecting and including the city; or

D. Upon the declaration of a local emergency by the City Council of the city, or by persons herein authorized to act in its stead.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.040)

The City Manager shall be the Director of Emergency Services. In the City Manager's absence or inability to act, the City Manager shall automatically be succeeded as Director of Emergency Services by the officials and persons named for this purpose, and in the order specified, in the emergency management plan of the city.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.050)

The Director of Emergency Services shall have the following powers and duties:

A. To make key appointments, and to make all other appointments or delegate the making of such appointments, within the disaster corps;

B. To request the City Council to proclaim the existence of a local emergency if such Council is in session, or to issue such proclamation if such Council is not in session. Whenever a local emergency is proclaimed by the Director of Emergency Services, the City Council shall take action to ratify the proclamation within seven days thereafter or the proclamation shall have no further force or effect. The City Council shall review the necessity for continuing the local emergency no less frequently than every sixty (60) days until the emergency is terminated;

C. During the existence of a state of war emergency, or the proclaimed existence of a state of emergency or a local emergency affecting the city, to:

1. Control and direct the activities of the city disaster corps,

2. Use all city resources for the preservation of life and property and to reduce the effects of disaster,

3. Resolve questions of authority and responsibility that may arise in disaster operations,

4. Obtain vital supplies, equipment, and other resources needed for the preservation of life and property by either binding the city for the fair value thereof or by commandeering the same,

5. Delegate to elected and appointed officials of the city such duties and authorities as he or she deems necessary,

6. Make and issue rules and regulations on matters reasonably related to the protection of life and property as affected by any condition proclaimed an emergency as provided in this chapter,

7. Require performance of emergency services by any city officer or employee and to command the aid of as many citizens of the city as he or she thinks necessary in the execution of his or her duties, and

8. Exercise complete authority over the city and to exercise all police power vested in the city by the Constitution and general laws;

D. In addition to the powers granted in this section, the Director of Emergency Services shall have such powers incidental to the performance of his or her duties as shall be necessary to allow him or her to carry out the disaster operations plan of the city, it being the intent of this chapter that the enumerated powers in this section are not limitations upon his or her powers.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.060)

(Ord. No. 354u, § 1, 3-17-2020; Ord. No. 356, § 1, 3-24-2020)

There is created the City Office of Emergency Services which shall consist of such positions as may be established by the City Manager.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.070)

Each person who shall succeed to each position or office as provided in this chapter, and as provided in the emergency management plan of the city, shall succeed to all the powers and duties of the office succeeded to immediately upon such succession.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.080)

During the existence of a state of war emergency or of a proclaimed state of emergency or local emergency affecting the city, each member of the city disaster corps shall have authority to require that all persons shall follow reasonable orders given by him or her within the scope of his or her functions in order to execute the emergency management plan of the city, and the wilful failure of any person to follow such reasonable order or orders is a misdemeanor.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.091)

The line of succession for the position of Mayor during a state of emergency, war emergency, local emergency, or other condition of disaster, unless otherwise ordered by the City Council, shall be Vice Mayor followed by the remaining City Council Members in the order of their seniority, excluding standby successors who may have been appointed pursuant to Section 8638 of the Government Code of the state. For members of the Council elected at the same election, seniority for succession to the office of Mayor shall be by lots drawn by the City Clerk.

(Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.100; Ord. 55 § 1, 1994; Ord. 60 § 1, 1994; Ord. No. 374, § 2, 9-28-2021)

Unless exigencies render the same impossible or unduly hazardous to safety, an emergency operating center shall normally be maintained within the city, at the Chino Hills Government Center.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.110)

(Ord. No. 410, § 7, 10-8-2024)

It is a criminal act and a misdemeanor for any person during a state of emergency, war emergency, local emergency, or other condition of disaster:

A. To wilfully obstruct, hinder, or delay any member of the city disaster corps in the enforcement of any law or lawful rule, regulation, or order issued pursuant to this chapter, or in the performance of any duty imposed upon such disaster corps member by virtue of this chapter;

B. To do any act forbidden by any lawful rule, regulation, or order issued pursuant to this chapter if such is of such a nature as to give, or be likely to give assistance to the enemy, or to imperil life or property, or to prevent, hinder, or delay the defense or protection of persons or property; or

C. To wear, carry, or display, without authority, any means of identification specified by the emergency services or disaster or civil defense agencies of the federal or state governments.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.120)

A. Whenever riots, general civil disobedience, multiple law violations, or the threat of such happenings occur in the city, the Director of Emergency Services, or in the event of his or her inability to act, the Chief of Police, may determine that a local emergency exists.

B. If such local emergency is declared by the Director of Emergency Services or the designee of such Director, the declaration shall be reviewed by the City Council as soon as practicable but within seven days of the declaration. In the event the City Council fails to ratify such declaration of local emergency within seven days of its declaration by the Director of Emergency Services or the designee of such Director, the declaration of local emergency shall cease and terminate.

C. The Director of Emergency Services shall immediately proclaim in writing the existence of a state of local emergency which shall be executed by the Mayor or acting Mayor if declared by the City Council or by the Director of Emergency Services, or designee of such Director, if declared by said Director or designee thereof. He or she shall cause widespread publicity and notice to be given to such proclamation.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.180)

The proclamation of local emergency provided in this section shall become effective immediately upon its issuance and shall be disseminated to the public by appropriate news media. Such a state of local emergency shall exist from the time the proclamation of emergency is issued until such time as it is similarly and duly terminated by:

A. The City Council at the earliest possible date that conditions warrant;

B. By the passage of seven days after the emergency is declared if declared by the Director of Emergency Services or designee of such Director and not ratified by the City Council;

C. The conclusion of any sixty (60) day period when the emergency is declared, ratified, or extended by the City Council.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.191)

(Ord. No. 357u, § 1, 5-12-2020; Ord. No. 358, § 1, 5-27-2020)

A. After the issuance of a proclamation of local emergency, the Director of Emergency Services shall have the power to make, issue, and enforce 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 as soon as practicable by the City Council. In addition to those powers and duties set forth in Section 2.44.080, the Director of Emergency Services is granted, but shall not be limited to, the following powers:

1. a.

Curfew. The Director of Emergency Services may order a general curfew applicable to the entire city or such geographical areas of the city as he or she deems necessary to protect the public health, safety, welfare, and morals.

b. As used in this chapter "curfew" means a prohibition against any person or persons walking, running, loitering, standing, riding, or motoring upon any alley, street, highway, public property, or private property except as authorized by the owner, lessee, or person in charge of such private property. Persons officially delegated to duty with reference to such civil emergency and representatives of news media, physicians, nurses, ambulance operators performing medical services, utility personnel maintaining essential public services, firemen and law enforcement officers, and other such personnel as well as those specifically authorized to duty by duly delegated authority are exempted from the foregoing curfew requirements;

2. Business Closing. The Director of Emergency Services may order the closing of any business establishments anywhere within the city, such businesses to include but not be limited to those selling alcoholic beverages, gasoline, or firearms;

3. Alcoholic Beverages. The Director of Emergency Services may order that no person shall consume any alcoholic beverages in a public street or place which is publicly owned or in any other public or private area open to the public on which the consumption of such alcoholic beverages shall be found by the Director of Emergency Services, on just cause, to precipitate a clear and present danger to the well-being of the community during the emergency;

4. Weapons. The Director of Emergency Services may order that no persons shall carry or possess any gun, bomb, fire bomb, knife, rock, or other such weapon or item, the use of which would tend to inflict great bodily harm on persons or damage to property;

5. Closed Areas. The Director of Emergency Services may designate any public street, thoroughfare, or vehicular parking area closed to motor vehicles and pedestrian traffic during the course of such an emergency.

B. The foregoing specific authorizations of authority vested in the Director of Emergency Services and other such authorizations as may be deemed necessary during such emergencies are declared to be imminently necessary for the protection of life and property during such period.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.200)

A. Once a proclamation of local emergency is issued, the Director of Emergency Services may request from the Governor all necessary assistance, requisition necessary personnel or materials from any city department or other source, control and direct all city personnel and equipment, obtain vital supplies and such other properties found lacking and needed for the protection of life and property, and bind the city for the fair value thereof, and if required, commandeer immediately such property, equipment, and personnel necessary for the public use during the term of the emergency.

B. The Director of Emergency Services may also require emergency services of any city official or employee and may command the aid of as many citizens of this city as he or she determines to be necessary in the execution of his or her duties. Such person shall be entitled to all privileges, benefits, and immunities as are provided by state or local law for registered civil defense and disaster worker volunteers.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.210)

Any state of local emergency proclaimed in accordance with the provisions of this chapter shall terminate in accordance with Section 2.44.160. The City Council may renew and extend the declaration of local emergency every sixty (60) days which such declaration shall expire and the declaration terminate if not so extended. The City Council shall proclaim the termination of such local emergency at the earliest possible date.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.220)

(Ord. No. 357u, § 1, 5-12-2020; Ord. No. 358, § 1, 5-27-2020)

Any person violating any provision of this chapter or any executive order issued pursuant thereto is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to punishment in accordance with Section 1.36.010, et seq. of this code, and it shall also be unlawful and a misdemeanor subject to punishment in accordance with Section 1.36.010, et seq. of this code 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 or her 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 this city, or to prevent, hinder, or delay the defense or protection thereof;

C. Wear, carry, or display, without authority, any means of identification specified by the emergency agency of the state.

(Ord. 60 § 1, 1994: Ord. 55 § 1, 1994: Ord. 91-05 § 2.20.230)