(A) 63 O.S. § 24-683.2 allows incorporated municipalities to declare and adopt emergency powers as necessary to respond to any national or state emergency. In response thereto, the City Council authorizes the Mayor to take and declare any actions necessary to protect the citizens of the city during times of emergency stemming from disease outbreak or any future health crisis or environmental or natural disaster.
(B) Said emergency powers shall include, but not be limited to, the following.
(1) The Mayor shall be authorized to make emergency purchases of goods and services and enter into such contracts as may be necessary to protect the health and welfare of the citizens of the city.
(2) The Mayor, with the advice of the City Police Chief, shall be authorized to declare any curfew as may be necessary to protect the citizens of the city.
(3) The Mayor shall be authorized to order the removal and remediation of any conditions that are deemed to be an immediate threat to the health or safety of the citizen of the city.
(4) The Mayor shall have the authority to order the closing of any businesses or facilities within the city that are seen as contributing to the spread of any infectious disease and to further order and limit the gathering of people in public places.
(5) The Mayor shall be authorized to cancel or limit all meetings of people within the community.
(6) The Mayor is authorized to assume all emergency management powers as may be necessary to combat disease outbreak.
(C) The Mayor is authorized to issue any and all orders as may be necessary to implement the powers granted herein and to take any other action as may not be enumerated herein, but is found to be necessary to alleviate the emergency in question.
(D) Further state of emergency protocols include:
(1) (a) The city’s administration shall be authorized to make emergency purchases of goods and services and enter into contracts as deemed necessary to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public and to protect public or private property from further harm or damage.
(b) Emergency purchases of goods and services shall not be subject to competitive bidding or other purchasing requirements established by this code of ordinances. Contracts pursuant to this section may be entered into by the Mayor without the prior approval of the City Council.
(2) The Police Chief, in consultation with the Mayor, may establish a curfew as deemed necessary for the preservation of the health, safety and welfare of the public.
(3) (a) The city, its agents and its employees are hereby empowered to enter onto public and private property to summarily remove conditions that are deemed an imminent threat to the life, safety, health and welfare of the city, its residents or the general public.
(b) The city, its agents or its employees shall suffer neither liability nor be responsible for any damages caused to private or public property during the abatement of existing and imminent threats to the safety, health and welfare of the city, its residents or the general public.
(4) The Emergency Management Director, after due authorization from the Mayor, shall have the power and authority to enforce all rules and regulations relating to civil defense and emergency management and, if necessary, take control of transportation, communications, public utilities or stocks of fuel, food, clothing and medicine for the purpose of protecting the civilian population. Said Director shall cooperate in every way with the activities of governmental agencies or civil defense organizations.
(E) The City Council authorizes the Mayor to make any adjustments to customer water billing that are relevant to the crisis or disaster at hand or relevant to the adverse financial impact upon customers’ ability to pay created by the crisis, disaster or event.
(F) The state of emergency expires whenever the City Council, in conjunction with the Command Staff (emergency management), deems the emergency is abated.
(Ord. 2020-01, passed 3-25-2020)