CC Minutes - 06/28/99 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Solin described the City's emergency preparedness for a full-scale emergency. He noted recent staff trainings and emergency exercises as well as the pending move of the City's Emergency Operations Center (EEC) to the Sheldon Fire Station. Ms. Nathanson noted there was no formal role for the council in the emergency planning and management process, but the plan did suggest the councilors would be conduits of information. She asked if the councilors would be contacted about emergencies and solicited for assistance and provided information, or would the council have to contact staff? She noted that there had been incidents in her ward of which she was unaware until the incidents had been over for some time. Mr. Solin responded that should the Eec be activated, the public information section of the emergency plan outlined how communication with councilors would occur. He said that specific staff would be assigned to communicate with councilors. He said that staff believed such communication was vital because councilors would be contacted by the media for information. Mr. Johnson noted that for Level 3 emergencies, the entire community would be informed. Ms. Nathanson indicated she would like to raise at a future meeting the issue of how councilors were contacted regarding incidents that did not rise to the level of a disaster. Ms. Nathanson noted her long-time concern about the potential of an urban wildfire in the south hills. Mr. Pap~ arrived at 5:50 p.m. Mr. Farr said the plan appeared to be well-organized but he did not think the City had done a good job telling the community how to react in case of an emergency. He said that the City was working on a plan to teach neighbors how to respond in the case of emergency, and suggested that the Year 2000 situation created a good opportunity for emergency training of citizens. Mr. Farr asked what progress the City was making on that plan. Ms. ebadal responded that she was working on Community Emergency Preparedness and hoped to begin offering classes to the community in mid- to late August. People would have the opportunity to sign up in a variety of ways. The course would be three hours in length and would include information on citizen preparedness and when and when not to call 9-1-1. Mr. Farr suggested that ideally, packets of information on the class be sent out to everyone in the City. Mr. Johnson indicated that the class would be video-taped and shown on government access television. He also anticipated that there would be a citywide newsletter mailed later in the year comprised largely of information on Year 2000 and emergency preparedness. Mr. Farr suggested that the packet include a checklist of items to have and prepare for, and asked that it also be included on the City's Web page. Mr. Meisner endorsed the citywide newsletter. He did not think the neighborhood newsletters were adequate to communicate that information given their limited distribution. He said that it was getting late to rely on neighborhood newsletters. Mr. Meisner contrasted the role identified for the council in the plan and the role identified in the ordinance, and asked how the two worked together. The plan called for an active role for the council, while the ordinance stipulated the council's role was to defer the City Manager's decision about a declaration of emergency. Mr. Solin interpreted the council's role as being no different from its current role; for example, during the flooding in the midwest, councils were required to declare states of emergency and in some cases surrender territory lost to flooding. Mr. Meisner interpreted the ordinance as stipulating that those actions must be consistent with the MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 28, 1999 Page 2 5:30 p.m.