CC Minutes - 04/27/05 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

In response to a question from Mr. Pap6, Mr. Solin said he did not think the ICS would require funding resources. He stated that training was being conducted every year and if a person was in a first-responder, role his or her responsibilities in the case of an emergency were incorporated into the training. He clarified that training was required for police, fire, and the majority of Public Works employees. Mr. Poling ascertained from Mr. Solin that the activation of the emergency system was the same for all situations but the reaction to an incident was specific to what type of incident it was. He asked if control over local operations would change if an agency such as FEMA came in. Mr. Solin responded that the control over local people would continue to be the responsibility of the City though it could fall under the umbrella of a federal agency. He said in a case such as the wind event a few years earlier, the federal government brought in its resources in the form of a disaster center to handle the claims after the event. Mr. Solin noted that the City of Eugene housed regional storage caches for one of the federal medical response teams and the federal government was set up so that it could bring in an emergency auxiliary medical center or a morgue. Mr. Poling asked if the other local jurisdictions in the vicinity were going through the same process and how their plans folded in with Eugene emergency plans. Mr. Solin replied that the key was how Eugene interfaced with the County, which was undergoing the same process. He pointed out that he was currently working with the City of Springfield to help rewrite its emergency plan. Ms. Bettman asked if Eugene received a franchise fee when Springfield copied Eugene's plan. Mr. Solin responded that the City of Springfield was covering all of the costs. He said he brought a hazard mitigation plan before the council in 2004 that had been done as a Eugene/Springfield Metropolitan Plan. Ms. Bettman remarked that she thought all of the jurisdictions contributed to the cost of creating the plan. Mr. Solin replied that the City of Eugene received the grant and the City of Springfield donated staff time for the hazard mitigation plan. In this case, he explained, the City of Eugene had entered into an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) and the City of Springfield was paying for the cost of writing the Emergency Plan. Ms. Bettman said her primary questions had to do with the extent of the oversight the legislative branch had over the administrative branch of municipal government in a crisis. She thought the City Manager was able to declare an emergency and then could assume unprecedented authority once the declaration of emergency was made. She did not think the ;;extreme shift of authority" was warranted. She sought to include a specific provision that specified that the City Manager's authority was still overseen by an elected body. She speculated, for purposes of example, that a city manager 20 years from now might take advantage of such a position to award all debris removal contracts to one company, as an example. Mr. Solin underscored that the City Manager had to indicate that a situation or incident constituted a Level 3 emergency and that he had contacted the majority of the city councilors. He reiterated that it was not a legally defined state of emergency until the administrative order was enacted by this process. Ms. Ortiz thanked staff for bringing the emergency plan forward. She noted that the hospital she worked for had a similar emergency management plan and indicated she was very comfortable with the plan as it was set forward. Mr. Kelly cited Eugene Code 2.1055, enacted in 1999, which declared that the City Manager shall provide MINUTES--Eugene City Council April 27, 2005 Page 3 Work Session