HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/15/2020 02B Report on Attributes & Deficiencies of Extension of Mayoral Proclomation Declaring State of Emergency a\'4\lyy bxk ik 1
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BUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
YAKIMA, WASHINGTON
AGENDA STATEMENT
Item No. 2.B.
For Meeting of: September 15, 2020
ITEM TITLE: Report on the attributes and deficiencies associated with the
continued extension of the Mayoral Proclamation Declaring a State
of Emergency in the City
SUBMITTED BY: Jeff Cutter, City Attorney
SUMMARY EXPLANATION:
During the September 1, 2020 City Council meeting the City Council requested a staff report on
the "pros and cons" of continuing the current Mayoral Proclamation declaring a state of
emergency in the City of Yakima in response to the COVI D pandemic. Attached hereto is a brief
Memorandum that provides some points for consideration to assist the Council in its discussion
of this issue.
ITEM BUDGETED: NA
STRATEGIC PRIORITY:
APPROVED FOR SUBMITTAL BY THE CITY MANAGER
RECOMMENDATION:
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Upload Date Type
Memo re Amer ency Pr lama on nay is 9/4/20 0 r Me o
2
CITY OF YAKIMA
LEGAL
DEPARTMENT
200 South Third Street,2nd Fl. I Yakima,WA 98901 P: 509.575.6030 I F: 509575.6160
MEMORANDUM
September 4, 2020
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
Robert Harrison, City Manager
FROM: Jeff Cutter, City Attorney
SUBJECT: Effects of Terminating Mayor's Proclamation of Emergency
During the City Council meeting on September 1, 2020, the City Council requested a staff report
regarding the "pros and cons" of future extensions of the Mayor's emergency proclamation. As I
have indicated in the past with regard to this question, the action of issuing a declaration of
emergency provides an avenue by which the Mayor, with the Council's ratification, can
implement certain responses, take certain specific actions and amend certain standard
procedures, requirements and obligations of the City and the City Council in order to respond to
an emergent condition.
With respect to the City's present Mayoral Proclamation regarding the COVID pandemic that
has now been extended numerous times, the declaration of emergency provides the Mayor the
authority, with the Council's ratification, to take the following actions:
As a result of the occurrence of this outbreak and the emergency that
exists I authorize the City of Yakima to exercise all actions necessary during the
state of emergency to protect the safety, health and well-being of the Residents
of the City, to include but not be limited to:
a. ordering areas of quarantine as may be necessary and
appropriate to preserve health and safety;
b. postponing meetings of City committees, commissions and boards
as may be determined appropriate;
c. altering the schedule means, methods and occurrence of City
Council meetings to accommodate health concerns and preservation of public
safety;
d. authorizing the City to enter into contracts and obligations
necessary to respond to the declared emergency to protect the health, welfare
and property of the City's residents and to provide emergency assistance as
required, and to otherwise suspend requirements for bidding processes and
formalities otherwise required by law unless mandated by Constitutional
requirements in order to respond to the emergency that exists.
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Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
Robert Harrison, City Manager
September 4, 2020
Page 2
Under the current declaration of emergency issued by Governor Inslee, most of the specific
limitations and alterations of standard function and protocol, such as the restrictions on the
Council's meetings in public and associated amendments of the Open Public Meetings Act, the
restriction on shutting off user utilities for lack of payment and the prohibition on residential
evictions under certain circumstances, to name just a few, have been addressed at the state
level. The action taken by the City in declaring its city wide state of emergency had no effect on
the statewide orders, which will remain effective until amended or terminated by the Governor,
regardless of any action the City may take.
The City has taken certain actions under the authority of the Mayoral state of emergency, such
as the moratorium on enforcing certain parking ordinances that exist only so long as the City's
declaration of emergency does. Similarly, any City actions that may be taken in response to the
pandemic emergency that were authorized under paragraphs "a" through "d" in the Mayoral
Proclamation, and that are included above, would cease to be effective upon the termination of
the current declared emergency.
These outcomes are fairly self-evident and understood. The more difficult question associated
with retaining or terminating the present state of emergency concerns how the state of
emergency status may affect the City's amenability to benefit from emergency funding
opportunities. I cannot state that the City's present state of emergency will guarantee the City
receives emergency aid from any particular source. I have no idea what funding opportunities
may become available to the City or what conditions may apply to the City's receipt of those
funds. What I can say is that so long as the City remains under a state of emergency, in parallel
with the State's declaration, the City would be amenable to receiving any assistance funding
that was in some way reliant on the local declaration of emergency to receive it. So while I
cannot say with certainty what the City may or may not receive in the way of future emergency
assistance funding, or what the specific requirements may be to qualify to receive said
assistance, it is certain that any funding assistance that did require that the City be under a state
of emergency to qualify for it would not be available to the City were the City Council to
terminate the current declaration.
On the other side of the coin, insofar as the City has taken very few specific actions under the
declared emergency, the most noteworthy being the moratorium on issuance of certain parking
citations, the continuation of the City's present status really has very little actual effect on the
business or function of the City. Any actual controls over how business is conducted, where it is
conducted and by whom, where and how large groups can gather, and so on, is presently
dictated by the action of the State. From this perspective the "con" side of the continued
extension of the declaration of emergency appears to be fairly deminimis.
JC/pm