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6.5.A. - Page 1 <br /> RE PO RT <br /> To the Honorable Mayor and City Council <br /> From the Cit Mana er <br /> September 10, 2012 <br /> SUBJECT <br /> An Ordinance Amending Section 10.6 of Chapter 10 of the Redwood City Municipal <br /> Code Relating to Director Authority during Emergencies <br /> RECOMMENDATION <br /> Waive First Reading and Introduce an Ordinance Amending Section 10.6 of Chapter 10 <br /> of the Redwood City Municipal Code Relating to Director Authority during Emergencies. <br /> BACKGROUND <br /> The City's Emergency ordinance should be revised because it contains unnecessary <br /> procedural obstacles to declaring an emergency in situations where time is of the <br /> essence. <br /> Currently, Chapter 10 of the City's Municipal Code, the city's emergency ordinance, <br /> provides authority to the City Manager to declare an emergency and adopt emergency <br /> regulations, but only if the City Council is unable to convene, and both the Mayor and <br /> Vice-Mayor are unavailable. "Unavailable" means"killed, missing or so seriously injured <br /> as to be unable to attend meetings and otherwise perform his duties." (Govt. Code § <br /> 8636) During an emergency, it may not be possible to obtain a quorum of the City <br /> Council in order to have an emergency declared. Under current law, the Mayor and <br /> Vice-Mayor would have to be dead or missing in order for the City Manager to be <br /> authorized to declare an emergency. Valuable time could be lost determining whether <br /> the Mayor or Vice-Mayor were available to declare an emergency <br /> ANALYSIS <br /> The proposed amendment will remove the requirement that both the Mayor and Vice- <br /> Mayor be unavailable before the City Manager can act and authorize the City Manager <br /> to act if the Council is unable to convene. The City Manager is named as the City's <br /> Emergency Operations Director in the City's Emergency Operations Plan and will be <br /> able to act quickly to respond to an emergency if he is able to act without first confirming <br /> that the Mayor and Vice-Mayor are unavailable. This is consistent with the City <br /> Manager's authority under the Charter to act as the administrative head of the City <br /> government. <br /> The proposed amendment will remove the requirement that both the Mayor and Vice- <br /> Mayor be unavailable before the City Manager can act and authorize the City Manager <br /> to act if the Council is unable to convene. The City Manager is named as the City's <br />