HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 20 - Ordinance Amending Chapter 2 of the City of Santa Ana Municipal Code Finance and Management Services
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Item # 20
City of Santa Ana
20 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, CA 92701
Staff Report
April 2, 2024
TOPIC: Ordinance Amendment Relating to Emergency Services - Definitions
AGENDA TITLE
Ordinance Amending Chapter 2 of the City of Santa Ana Municipal Code
(Administration), Article IV (Officers, Departments, Boards and Commissions), Division
15 Relating to Emergency Services Section 2-643 – Definitions
RECOMMENDED ACTION
Approve the introduction and first reading of an ordinance to expand the definition of an
emergency in the Santa Ana Municipal Code.
ORDINANCE NO. NS-XXX AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF SANTA ANA AMENDING CHAPTER 2 OF THE SANTA ANA MUNICIPAL CODE
(ADMINISTRATION), ARTICLE IV (OFFICERS, DEPARTMENTS, BOARDS AND
COMMISSIONS), DIVISION 15 RELATING TO EMERGENCY SERVICES, SECTION
2-643 - DEFINITIONS
GOVERNMENT CODE §84308 APPLIES: No
DISCUSSION
Local government has increasingly become the target of cyberattacks affecting
computer systems, networks, and infrastructure. Several California agencies, including
the cities of Oakland, Modesto, and Long Beach, as well as the Orange County and San
Bernardino County Sheriff departments, have all been recently targeted. These attacks
can paralyze City services affecting normal work processes, revenue collection, public
safety communications, water service, and could result in the theft of sensitive
information. The City’s Information Technology department has taken various
measures to increase cybersecurity, including new tools and staff training. The Finance
Department has initiated preparation of a cyberattack playbook for business
continuity. The City has purchased cybersecurity insurance to help mitigate risk of loss.
At this time, staff recommends updating the Santa Ana Municipal Code definition of an
emergency to include cyberterrorism, a de-energization event, and an electromagnetic
pulse attack. Adding these perils to the definition of an emergency will support
maximum flexibility to quickly respond to such an event.
Ordinance Amendment Relating to Emergency Services - Definitions
April 2, 2024
Page 2
4
1
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9
Currently, Section 2-643 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code defines a local emergency as
follows:
“Emergency or local emergency means the duly proclaimed existence of conditions of
disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the territorial
limits of the city or county, caused by such conditions as air pollution, fire, flood, storm,
epidemic, riot, drought, sudden and severe energy shortage, plant or animal infestation
or disease, the governor's warning of an earthquake or volcanic prediction, or an
earthquake, or other conditions, other than conditions resulting from a labor
controversy, which are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel,
equipment, and facilities of the political subdivision and require the combined forces of
other political subdivisions to combat, or with respect to regulated energy utilities, a
sudden and severe energy shortage requires extraordinary measures beyond the
authority vested in the California Public Utilities Commission.”
The proposed Ordinance would add the three new classifications noted above to the
definition of a local emergency event.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with this action.
EXHIBIT(S)
1. Ordinance
Submitted By: Kathryn Downs, Executive Director of Finance and Management
Services & Jack Ciulla, Chief Technology Innovations Officer
Approved By: Tom Hatch, Interim City Manager
Ordinance No. NS-XXX
Page 1 of 4
ORDINANCE NO. NS-XXX
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
SANTA ANA AMENDING CHAPTER 2 OF THE SANTA ANA
MUNICIPAL CODE (ADMINISTRATION), ARTICLE IV
(OFFICERS, DEPARTMENTS, BOARDS AND
COMMISSIONS), DIVISION 15 RELATING TO
EMERGENCY SERVICES, SECTION 2-643 - DEFINITIONS
WHEREAS, Chapter 2, Article IV, Division 15 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code
(“SAMC”) establishes the emergency organization of the City of Santa Ana (“City”) and
provides for emergency functions of the City in an emergency; and
WHEREAS, Section 2-643 of the SAMC establishes the definitions of different
types of emergencies the City may face; and
WHEREAS, California Government Code § 8558 establishes the conditions or
degrees of emergency; “state of war emergency,” “state of emergency,” and “local
emergency” for the State of California; and
WHEREAS, Section 2-643 of the SAMC does not currently specifically include
cyberterrorism, deenergization event, or electromagnetic pulse attack in its definitions
for “emergency or local emergency” or “state of emergency”; and
WHEREAS, this ordinance shall amend Section 2-643 of the SAMC to
specifically include “cyberterrorism,” deenergization event” and “electromagnetic pulse
attack” in its definitions for “emergency or local emergency” to be consistent with state
law.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA,
CALIFORNIA, DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. The recitals above are each incorporated by reference and adopted
as findings by the City Council.
Section 2. Chapter 2 of the Santa Ana Municipal Code (Administration), Article
IV (Officers, Departments, Boards and Commissions), Division 15 (Emergency Services),
Section 2-643 - Definitions is hereby amended to read as follows.
Sec. 2-643. Definitions.
For the purpose of this division, certain words and phrases shall be construed as
follows, unless it is apparent from the context that a different meaning is intended:
EXHIBIT 1
Ordinance No. NS-XXX
Page 2 of 4
Director or director of emergency services means the individual having primary
jurisdiction and authority over the city's response and recovery to emergencies and
disasters and is authorized to act on behalf of the city.
Emergency or local emergency means the duly proclaimed existence of conditions
of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the territorial
limits of the city or county, caused by such conditions as air pollution, fire, flood, storm,
epidemic, riot, drought, cyberterrorism, sudden and severe energy shortage,
deenergization event, electromagnetic pulse attack, plant or animal infestation or
disease, the governor's warning of an earthquake or volcanic prediction, or an
earthquake, or other conditions, other than conditions resulting from a labor
controversy, which are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel,
equipment, and facilities of the political subdivision and require the combined forces of
other political subdivisions to combat, or with respect to regulated energy utilities, a
sudden and severe energy shortage requires extraordinary measures beyond the
authority vested in the California Public Utilities Commission.
Emergency services/emergency operations/emergency management, used
interchangeably, means the preparation for and carrying out of all emergency functions
necessary to mitigate, prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from large
emergencies or disasters caused by all hazards, whether natural, technological or
human caused.
State of emergency means the duly proclaimed existence of conditions of disaster
or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the state, caused by
such conditions as air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, drought,
cyberterrorism, sudden and severe energy shortage, deenergization event,
electromagnetic pulse attack, plant or animal infestation or disease, the governor's
warning of an earthquake or volcanic prediction, or an earthquake, or other conditions,
other than conditions resulting from a labor controversy or conditions causing a "state of
war emergency," which, by reason of their magnitude, are or are likely to be beyond the
control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of any single county, city
and county, or city and require the combined forces of a mutual aid region or regions to
combat, or with respect to regulated energy utilities, a sudden and severe energy
shortage requires extraordinary measures beyond the authority vested in the California
Public Utilities Commission.
State of war emergency means the condition which exists immediately, with or
without a proclamation thereof by the governor, whenever this state or nation is
attacked by an enemy of the United States, or upon receipt by the state of a warning
from the federal government indicating that such an enemy attack is probable or
imminent.
Section 4. The City Council finds and determines that this ordinance is not
subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections
15060(c)(2) and 15060(c)(3) of the State CEQA Guidelines because it will not result i n a
direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment, as there is
Ordinance No. NS-XXX
Page 3 of 4
no possibility it will have a significant effect on the environment and it is not a "project",
as defined in Section 15378 of the CEQA Guidelines.
Section 5. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion of this
ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any
court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining
portions of this ordinance. The City Council of the City of Santa Ana hereby declares that
it would have adopted this ordinance and each section, subsection, sentence, clause,
phrase or portion thereof irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections ,
subsections, sentences, clauses, phrases, or portions be declared invalid or
unconstitutional.
Section 6. This Ordinance shall become effective thirty (30) days after its
adoption.
Section 7. The City Clerk shall certify the adoption of this ordinance and shall
cause the same to be published as required by law.
ADOPTED this _______ day of ___________, 2024.
_________________________
Valerie Amezcua
Mayor
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Sonia R. Carvalho, City Attorney
By:_________________________
Brandon Salvatierra
Deputy City Attorney
AYES: Councilmembers ______________________________________
NOES: Councilmembers _______________________________________
ABSTAIN: Councilmembers _______________________________________
NOT PRESENT: Councilmembers _______________________________________
Ordinance No. NS-XXX
Page 4 of 4
CERTIFICATE OF ATTESTATION AND ORIGINALITY
I, Jennifer L. Hall, City Clerk, do hereby attest to and certify the attached Ordinance N o.
NS-____________ to be the original ordinance adopted by the City Council of the City of
Santa Ana on _______________, and that said ordinance was published in accordance
with the Charter of the City of Santa Ana.
Date: ________________ ____________________________________
City Clerk
City of Santa Ana