HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 403-06City of Palo Alto
City Manager,s Report
TO:
FROM:
DATE:
HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL 11
CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE
NOVEMBER 6, 2006 CMR: 403:06
SUBJECT: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ADDITIONAL DISASTER PREPARATION
RESOURCES
Staff recommends that the City Council approve the following recommendation for disaster
preparation resources and the associated funding plan, as outlined in this report:
1) Approve the addition of 1 limited hourly temporary part-time position to the Police
Department for a period of 18 months. The position would serve as Coordinator of
Homeland Security and Community Outreach.
BACKGROUND
One of the Council’s top 3 priorities for 2006 is disaster preparedness. As part of this effort,
staff has worked on a variety of initiatives during the year relating to disaster planning and
preparation. In addition to monthly Emergency Preparedness Steering Committee meetings,
staff has created a Pandemic Avian Flu working group that has focused specifically on the City’s
response to a pandemic flu disaster. The group has focused on five key dements of local
government pandemic flu preparedness: continuity planning; policies and procedures; employee
education/outreach; procurement/stockpiling; and community education/outreach. Staff from the
City, Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD), Palo Alto Medical Reserve Corps, Palo Alto
Area Red Cross, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, and the Santa Clara County Department of
PuNic Health have all been involved in the planning efforts. A summary of these efforts
follows. ¯
Continuity Plans: Each City department has developed a plan for continued delivery of core
services with a reduced number of employees. The assumption is that up to 30% of the
workforce will be unavailable in a pandemic flu situation. The plans include identifying critical
functions/operations, essential personnel, essential facilities, non-essential functions that can be
suspended and related reassignment of personnel, Critical functions that can be performed via
telecommuting, and equipment and supplies that should be stockpiled to ensure staff can conduct
and deliver essential services.
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Policies and Procedures: This subcommittee has identified City policies and procedures that
will need to be created and/or amended to address the special circumstances of an influenza
pandemic. The outcome of this work will most likely be one policy, encompassing several issue
areas, that will be temporarily implemented during a pandemic. Staff from Human Resources,
the City Attorney,s Office and the Police Department have been the key members of this
subcommittee. Once this work is complete, staff will incorporate discussions of the work into
employee trainings tentatively scheduled for early 2007.
Employee education/outreach: The scope of this subcommittee includes educating City staff
about the pandemic influenza and the City’s preparedness plans. To date, the City has hosted
four training sessions for employees featuring medical professionals from Stanford University
and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. Approximately 250 employees have attended the
training. Several larger operating departments (Police, Fire, Utilities) will be incorporating this
training into their regularly scheduled staff meetings/trainings. A second set of trainings will
occur in early. 2007 on staff policies and procedures in the event of a pandemic flu.
Procurement/Stockpiling: An interdepartmental group is preparing a plan for procurement of
supplies and materials in the event of a reduction in supply availability, particularly as it relates
to pandemic flu supplies. As part of this effort, staff is also evaluating the City’s existing
disaster supply resources for all hazards with the assistance of a firm hired by the Police
Department that specializes in this planning. Attachment A provides a sample of the worksheet
being used for this process. The group has also discussed stockpiling supplies for the greater
Palo Alto community.
Community education/outreach: The purpose of this subcommittee is, with City Council
leadership, to deliver a series of presentations for neighborhood,, business, nonprofit, and school
groups ~and the general public that include an overview on the pandemic influenza, how
community members can prepare themselves, and the City’s preparedness plan. The sessions
were held in late October/early November and were well attended by the community. The Media
Center will replay one of the sessions over the next couple of months. Additionally, the City is
taking the lead in distributing 30,000 guides on pandemic flu preparedness developed by the
County Department of Public Health. These guides have already been distributed to every
family in the school district, and are in all public City facilities.
DISCUSSION
The next steps in the City’s disaster planning efforts focus on two of the areas described above:
stockpiling/procurement and community education!outreach. Staff would like to receive the
Council’s input on the additional initiatives planned in these two areas.
Stockpiling/Procurement: As mentioned above, staff has focused its efforts on enhancing the
City’s emergency supplies as necessary for a pandemic flu. The working group has also
discussed the City’s ability to stockpile and distribute supplies for the greater Palo Alto
community. Staff currently believes that the supplies necessary for City staff to respond to a
pandemic flu can be procured given existing resources. The schedule for obtaining the pandemic
CMR: 403:06 Page 2 of 4
flu supplies will be accelerated for this fiscal year so that more of the supplies are on hand at any
one time. Once the disaster supply planning firm mentioned above has finished its work, staff
will evaluate any deficient areas and assess whether additional financial resources are necessary
for all-hazard disaster supplies.
The staff team, along with input from the County Health Department, has discussed the issue of
stockpiling supplies for the community, especially protective masks. With respect to the issue of
protective masks, staff recommends that the City not stockpile these for community members.
For protective masks to be effective, they need to be fit-tested specifically for the person utilizing
the mask, making City efforts to stockpile challenging. Staff will continue to work with the
County Health Department on any additional recommendations they have for stockpiling
community supplies and will return to the Council in the future if resources are necessary to
move forward with this type of effort. Staff will be moving forward with further development of
a community education effort to enhance neighborhood preparedness (see discussion below on
community outreach). This effort will most likely include recommendations to the community
about disaster supplies.
Community education!outreach: Two key components of disaster planning are coordination with
the community and communication with the City Council/Emergency Standby Council. In a
disaster, the City’s resources will be overwhelmed and it will be critical for members of the
community to work together on response and recovery efforts. It is also critical that the City
Council provide leadership in the community during a disaster. The ability of the Council to
provide the link between the community and staff during a disaster will be crucial in making
resource allocation and policy decisions.
To this end, the City has entered into an agreement with Andy Coe for preparation of the disaster
communication plan and protocols for the City Council and Emergency Standby Council.
Attachment B outlines the scope of services that he will provide to the City. The scope of work
is within the City Manager’s contracting authority and funding for the agreement ($25,000) will
come from salary savings within the existing City Manager’s department budget.
Recommendation:
1) Approve the addition of 1 temporary part-time position to the Police Department for a
period of 18 months - To further enhance the City’s community education and
outreach plans, staff recommends adding this position. The position would serve as
Coordinator of Homeland Security and Community Outreach and will focus heavily
on outreach to neighborhoods and neighborhood preparedness. This might include
working with the Palo Alto Neighborhoods (PAN) group on a block captain approach
to disaster preparedness. The position would also assist the departments in finalizing
their continuity plans. Reserve Police Officer Ken Dueker has been acting in this
capacity since early October.
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RESOURCE IMPACT
The elements of this report that have resource impacts include: the addition of I temporary part-
time position in the Police Department for 18 months and use of salary savings within the City
Manager’s department budget to fund the disaster communication consultant.
Funding for the 18 month temporary position is currently available within the Police Department
budget given the vacancies within the department. Based on current available salary savings,
staff does not anticipate needing additional funding to cover the addition of this temporary
position. Should additional resources be required, staff will request them as part of the mid year
budget.
Staff will be utilizing salary savings within the City Manager’s department budget to fund the
$25,000 contract for the disaster communication consultant. Given that disaster preparedness is
one of the top three Council priorities for this year, staff supports this reallocation of existing
budget resources.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This is not a proj ect requiring environmental review under the California Environmental Quality
Act (CEQA).
Attachment A: Procurement/Stockpiling Inventory Worksheet
Attachment B: Scope of Services -Andy Coe (Disaster Communication Consultant)
PREPARED BY: ~
Kelly Morariu
Assistant to the City Manager
DEPARTMENT HEADS:~--1--4,.4.,’~t~ ~
LYN~ JOHNS O1N~/ ~
POLICE CHIEF
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL:
CMR: 403:06 Page 4 of 4
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Attachment B: Scope of Services for Andy Coe (Disaster Communication Consultant)
Overview: Prepare policies and procedures regarding roles and responsibilities
for City Council Members and Executive Staff during an emergency.; conduct
training, including exercises.
SCOPE OF SERVICES
Prepare policies and procedures detailing role of Palo Alto City Council,
Emergency Council and Executive Staff (excluding Police Chief and Fire
Chief) during the response to a disaster, based upon City of Palo Alto’s
Emergency Management Plan and best professional practices, This includes,
but is not limited to:
a. Checking in, obtaining briefing.
bo Liaison Relationships - Working with Emergency Services Director and
Public Information Officer to identify and respond to:
>Media
>Community
>Other governmental and non-profit agencies
>School District
=
co Continuity of Government - Identify actions including, but not limited to:
> Declaration of a Local Emergency
> When necessary to preserve the public order and safety, curfews
within designated boundaries for specified periods of time
> Emergency expenditure of funds
Conduct training for City Council, Emergency Council and Executive Staff in
policies and procedures
Prepare and conduct exercise(s)
TIMELINE
Estimated completion date for work: March 31, 2007
Estimated total hours of work: 200 hours
Hours per week would vary but wouldn’t exceed 20.
BUDGET
The total not to exceed budget for this contract is $25,000. The consultant’s hourly
billing rate is $125/hour.
City Council Meeting - November 6, 2006
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