La Puente Municipal Code Ch. 2.28 Emergency Services

Sections:

• 2.28.010 Purposes.

• 2.28.020 Definition.

• 2.28.030 Disaster council membership.

• 2.28.040 Disaster council powers and duties.

• 2.28.050 Director and assistant director of emergency services.

• 2.28.060 Powers and duties of the director and assistant director of emergency services.

• 2.28.070 Emergency organization.

• 2.28.080 Emergency plan.

• 2.28.090 Expenditures.

• 2.28.100 Punishment of violations.

• 2.28.110 Repeal of conflicting ordinances.

The declared purposes of this chapter are to provide for the following: the preparation and carrying out of plans for the protection of persons and property within this city in the event of an emergency; the direction of the emergency organization; and the coordination of the emergency functions of this city with all other public agencies, corporations, organizations, and affected private persons.

(Ord. 767 § 1 (part), 1998)

As used in this chapter, “emergency” means the actual or threatened existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within this city caused by such conditions as air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot or earthquake, or other conditions, including 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 this city and therefore must be addressed by the combined forces of the city and other political subdivisions.

(Ord. 767 § 1 (part), 1998)

The city’s disaster council is created and will consist of the following:

(a) The mayor, who will be the chair;

(b) The director of emergency services, who will be the vice-chair;

(c) The assistant director, appointed by the city manager with the advice and consent of the city council who, under the supervision of the director, will develop the emergency plan and will periodically review and update the plan;

(d) The chiefs of emergency services that may be provided for in any current emergency plan that is adopted pursuant to this chapter;

(e) Representatives of civic, business, labor, veterans, professional, and other organizations having an official emergency responsibility, that may be appointed by the director with the advice and consent of the city council.

(Ord. 767 § 1 (part), 1998)

It is the duty of the disaster council, and it is empowered, to develop and recommend for adoption by the city council various emergency and mutual aid plans and agreements, and all ordinances, resolutions, rules and regulations that are necessary to implement these plans and agreements. The disaster council will meet upon call of the chair or, in the chair’s absence from the city or inability to call such meeting, upon the call of the vice-chair.

(Ord. 767 § 1 (part), 1998)

(a) There is created the office of director of emergency services. The city manager is the director of emergency services.

(b) There is created the office of assistant director of emergency services, who will be appointed by the director.

(Ord. 767 § 1 (part), 1998)

(a) The director 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 a proclamation if the city council is not in session. Whenever a local emergency is proclaimed by the director, the city council must take action to ratify the proclamation within seven days thereafter or the proclamation will have no further force or effect;

(2) Request the Governor to proclaim a state of emergency when, in the opinion of the director, the locally available resources are inadequate to cope with the emergency;

(3) Control and direct the effort of the emergency organization of this city to accomplish the purposes of this chapter;

(4) Direct cooperation between and coordination of services and staff of the emergency organization, 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;

(6) Upon the proclamation of a local emergency by the city council or the director, or the proclamation of a state of emergency by the Governor or the director of the state Office of Emergency Services, or the existence of a state of war emergency, the director is empowered:

(A) To make and issue rules and regulations on matters reasonably related to the protection of life and property as affected by that emergency; provided, however, such rules and regulations must be approved at the earliest practicable time by the city council,

(B) To obtain vital supplies and equipment that may be needed for the protection of life and property, to bind the city for payment of their fair value 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 Los Angeles County or the existence of a state of war emergency, to command the aid of as many citizens of this community as the director deems necessary in the execution of the director’s duties; those persons are entitled to all privileges, benefits and immunities that are provided by state law for registered disaster service workers,

(D) To requisition necessary personnel or material of any city department or agency,

(E) To execute all ordinary power and authority as city manager, all of the special powers conferred by this chapter, by resolution, or by an emergency plan adopted by the city council, and all powers conferred by statute, by agreement approved by the city council, and by any other lawful authority.

(b) The director of emergency services must designate the order of succession to the office, which will take effect if the director is unavailable to attend meetings and otherwise perform all duties during an emergency. That order of succession must be approved by the city council.

(c) The assistant director must, under the supervision of the director and with the assistance of emergency service chiefs, develop emergency plans, manage the emergency programs, and perform all other powers and duties that may be assigned by the director.

(Ord. 767 § 1 (part), 1998)

The emergency organization of the city consists of the following: 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 Section 2.28.060(a)(6)(C) of this chapter, be charged with duties incident to the protection of life and property during any emergency.

(Ord. 767 § 1 (part), 1998)

The disaster council is responsible for the development of the city’s emergency plan, which plan must provide for the effective mobilization of all 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 must provide for the organization, powers, duties, services and staff of the emergency organization. This plan will take effect upon its adoption by resolution of the city council.

(Ord. 767 § 1 (part), 1998)

Any expenditures made in connection with emergency activities, including mutual aid activities, will be deemed conclusively to be for the direct protection and benefit of the inhabitants and property within the city.

(Ord. 767 § 1 (part), 1998)

It is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not to exceed one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for not to exceed six months, or both, 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 by this chapter;

(b) Do any act prohibited by any lawful rule or regulation issued pursuant to this chapter, if that 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 their defense or protection;

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

(Ord. 767 § 1 (part), 1998)

It is the intent of the city council in enacting the ordinance codified in this chapter that it be considered a revision and continuation of Ordinance No. 620 that is repealed by the ordinance codified in this chapter, and the status of volunteers will not be affected by that repeal; nor will civil defense and disaster mutual aid plans and agreements, rules and regulations, or resolutions adopted pursuant to that repealed ordinance be affected by that repeal until amended, modified or superseded as provided in this chapter.

(Ord. 767 § 1 (part), 1998)