HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 274-05City of Palo Alto
City Manager's Report
TO: HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL
ATTN: POLICY AND SERVICES COMMITTEE
FROM: CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: City Manager's Office
DATE: JUNE 14, 2005 CMR: 274:05
SUBJECT: RECOMMENDATION TO ADOPT PROCEDURE FOR
COMPOSITION ON EMERGENCY COUNCIL
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the Council adopt a policy, beginning in December 2005, of appointing to
the City Emergency those Council Members retiring from the City Council, should they be
willing to serve; and replacing the current membership in order of appointment.
BACKGROUND
Palo Alto Municipal Code Section 2.12.190 establishes and describes the powers and duties of
the City Emergency Council. To ensure the continuity of City operations in the event of a
disaster, "the city council may appoint standby council members equal in number to the
authorized membership of said council, who will assume their positions and who shall have the
qualifications, tenure, duties and powers specified in Sections 8637 through 8641 inclusive of the
Government Code insofar as such 'Sections are riot inconsistent with the Charter or other
ordinances of the city. In case a standby office becomes vacant because of removal, death,
resignation or other cause the city council shall appoint another person to fill said office."
The current Emergency Council is composed of the following former Council Members. The
date of appointment to the Emergency Council is indicated in parentheses after their name:
Betsy Bechtel (1989)
Roy Clay (1979)
Ellen Fletcher (1989)
Larry Klein (1989)
Jean McCown (1997)
Emily Renzel (1991)
Gail Woolley (1991)
CMR: 274:05 Page 10f2
DISCUSSION
In the past two years, the City has considerably augmented its efforts in emergency preparedness,
with the creation of the Emergency Preparedness Committee and Emergency Preparedness
Working Group, composed of staff from all City departments; and with the creation of the
Citizens Corp Council, composed of representatives from key organizations and institutions in
the community who have a role in emergency preparedness and response. Staff schedules
quarterly study sessions with the Council on issues related to emergency preparedness, and
recently involved the Council in a half-day training exercise, as well as a training session with
the California Specialized Training Institute (CTSI).
Staff believes, that, given the amount of information and training currently being provided to the
City Council, that having the Emergency Council composed of recently retired Council Members
who are rotated through more frequently as city councils change, will provide the optimum
composition for the Emergency Council in terms of training in emergency preparedness. If
Council approves this recommendation, staff would recommend that it be implemented with the
change in composition of the current city council in January 2006, and that the new members
take the place of the members who were appointed the furthest back in time.
RESOURCE IMPACT
Implementation of this recommendation would have no resource impact.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
This recommendation is consistent with existing City policies.
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PREPARED BY
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL
Frank Benest, City Manager
CMR: 274:05 Page 2 of2