[HISTORY: Adopted by the Commissioners of the City of Rehoboth Beach 1-21-2011 by Ord. No. 0111-01.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed former Ch. 22, Emergency Operating Plan, adopted 7-8-1977 by Ord. No. 777-1, as amended.
The purpose of this chapter is:
A. 
To provide for an immediate, coordinated response at all levels of municipal government in times of emergency.
B. 
To provide for the declaration of a civil emergency by the Mayor, and to authorize extraordinary measures that may be taken to meet such an emergency.
C. 
To provide for the creation and adoption of an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP), including periodic review and update. The EOP along with its annexes and other attachments provides a basis for coordinated emergency operations throughout the City of Rehoboth Beach prior to, during and after a disaster, caused or natural.
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
CIVIL EMERGENCY
Any disaster, impacting or likely to impact the City of Rehoboth Beach to such an extent that extraordinary measures must be taken to protect the public health, safety and welfare.
CURFEW
A prohibition against any person or persons walking, running, loitering, standing or motoring upon any alley, street, highway, public property or vacant premises within the corporate limits of Rehoboth Beach, excepting persons officially designated to duty with reference to said civil emergency.
DISASTER
A catastrophic condition caused by a man-made event (including, but not limited to, industrial, nuclear or transportation accident, explosion, conflagration, power failure, act of domestic terrorism, natural resource shortage or other condition resulting from man-made causes, such as hazardous materials spills and other injurious environmental contamination), natural event (including, but not limited to, any hurricane, tornado, storm, flood, high water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, earthquake, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, drought, fire or explosion) or war-caused event (following an attack upon the United States caused by use of bombs, missiles, shellfire or nuclear, radiological, chemical or biological means, or other weapons, or overt paramilitary actions, or other conditions such as sabotage) which results in substantial damage to property or the environment, and/or hardship, suffering, injury or possible loss of life.
EMERGENCY
Any situation which requires efforts and capabilities to save lives or to protect property, public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster in Rehoboth Beach.
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
The mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery functions necessary to save lives and to protect property, public health and safety or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster in Rehoboth Beach, other than functions for which military forces or other federal agencies are primarily responsible. These functions include, without limitation, fire-fighting services, police services, medical and health services, rescue, engineering, warning services, communications, radiological response, chemical response or other technological response, evacuation of persons from hazardous areas, emergency welfare services, emergency transportation, protection, temporary restoration of public utility services, national security, and other functions related to infrastructure, together with all other activities necessary or incidental to the preparation for and carrying out of the foregoing functions. In so defining "emergency management," full recognition shall be given to Public Law 93-288, as amended, the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. § 5121 et seq.); Public Law 100-408, as amended, the Price Anderson Act (42 U.S.C. § 2210); § 4 Public Law 875, 81st Congress, as amended.
MITIGATION
Any action before or after a response event taken to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk to human life and/or property from natural hazards or any cost-effective measure which is intended to reduce the potential for damage to a facility from a disaster event.
RESPONSE
Any action taken to reduce or eliminate the immediate or short-term risk to human life and/or property from any hazard.
When, in the judgment of the Mayor, a civil emergency, as defined herein, is deemed to exist, he shall forthwith proclaim, in writing, the existence of same. In exigent circumstances such a proclamation of civil emergency may be issued in writing subsequent to its effect so long as a written log recording the dates and times of such proclamation is maintained and the proclamation is reduced to writing as soon as practicable.
After proclamation of a civil emergency by the Mayor, he may order a general curfew applicable to such geographical areas of the City or to the City as a whole as he deems advisable and applicable during such hours of the day or night as he deems necessary in the interest of the public safety and welfare.
After proclamation of a civil emergency, the Mayor may also, in the interest of public safety and welfare:
A. 
Suspend or limit the sale, dispensing or transportation of alcoholic beverages, firearms and ammunition, explosives, gasoline and combustibles.
B. 
Suspend the provisions of any regulatory ordinance prescribing procedures for the conducting of City business, or the orders or regulations of any City department if compliance with the provisions of the statute, order or regulation would prevent, or substantially impede or delay, action necessary to cope with the disaster emergency.
C. 
Use all the resources of the City government deemed reasonably necessary to cope with the disaster emergency.
D. 
Transfer personnel or alter the functions of City departments and offices for the purpose of performing or facilitating the performance of disaster emergency services.
E. 
Subject to any applicable requirements for compensation, commandeer or utilize any private property, except for all news media other than as specifically provided for in this chapter, if considered necessary to cope with the disaster emergency.
F. 
Direct and compel the relocation of all or part of the population from any stricken or threatened area in the municipality if relocation is considered necessary for the preservation of life or for other disaster mitigation purposes.
G. 
Order the temporary closing of any and all streets, alleys and other public ways in Rehoboth Beach.
H. 
Prescribe routes, modes of transportation and destinations in connection with necessary relocation.
I. 
Control ingress to and egress from a disaster area; control the movement of persons and occupancy of premises.
J. 
Make provisions for the availability and use of temporary emergency housing.
K. 
Allocate, ration or redistribute food, water, fuel, clothing and other items deemed necessary.
L. 
Obtain vital supplies, equipment and other properties found lacking and needed for the protection of the health, life and property of the people, and bind the City for the fair value thereof.
M. 
Issue such other orders as are imminently necessary for the protection of life and property.
N. 
Any other authority as established in the City of Rehoboth Beach Emergency Operations Plan.
Should the Mayor deem it necessary to invoke any or all of the provisions of §§ 22-3 to 22-5, inclusive, he shall give notice of same by means of a written proclamation, publicly posted in City Hall and issued to the news media for immediate dissemination to the public.
A. 
Should the Mayor be unavailable or otherwise unable to assume, during the time of a civil emergency, the duties and authority of this chapter, these duties and authority shall pass to another commissioner who is available in the City according to the following order:
(1) 
Vice President of the Commission.
(2) 
Resident Commissioner by seniority.
(3) 
Nonresident Commissioner by seniority.
B. 
Once available and able, the Mayor shall assume the duties and authority of this chapter.
The Mayor or Emergency Management Coordinator shall order emergency management forces to the aid of other communities when required in accordance with the statutes of the state and may request the state, Sussex County or a political subdivision of the state to send aid to the City of Rehoboth Beach in case of disaster when conditions in the City are beyond the control of local emergency management forces.
The Mayor and Commissioners shall designate one individual as the Emergency Management Coordinator. The Emergency Management Coordinator shall be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the various aspects of the Rehoboth Beach Emergency Operations Plan, shall be responsible for chairing the Emergency Management Council and shall manage the Emergency Operations Center when activated according to the guidelines established in the Emergency Operations Plan. The Emergency Management Coordinator shall report to the City Manager.
A comprehensive Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) shall be adopted by the Commissioners, to be maintained under authority of the Emergency Management Coordinator. The EOP, at a minimum, shall:
A. 
Define the basic strategies, assumptions and mechanisms through which Rehoboth Beach will mobilize resources and conduct activities to guide and support local emergency management efforts through response and recovery.
B. 
Facilitate effective intergovernmental operations, examining relationships between the City of Rehoboth Beach, Sussex County, the State of Delaware and federal resources.
C. 
Establish official policies, program strategies and planning assumptions for disaster preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation.
D. 
Define responsibilities for all Rehoboth Beach departments.
E. 
Provide an all-hazards organizational structure to emergency operations.
F. 
Establish basic direction and control for all levels of a disaster, creating a consistent unified approach to emergency management operations by employing the National Incident Management System concepts and utilizing the Incident Command System for the management of disasters.
[Amended 5-4-2020 by Ord. No. 0520-03; 11-21-2025 by Ord. No. 1125-02]
A. 
Any person violating the provisions of this chapter or an executive order issued pursuant thereto shall be guilty of an offense against Rehoboth Beach and shall be punishable by a fine established in the City Schedule of Fees and Penalties.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: The City Schedule of Fees and Penalties is on file in the City offices.
B. 
Notwithstanding Subsection A of this section, any violation of the provisions of this chapter or an executive order issued pursuant thereto, or a lawful emergency order of any other public agency or official, shall be a civil offense pursuant to Chapter 126[2] of the Municipal Code of the City of Rehoboth Beach and, in the sole discretion of a Rehoboth Beach police officer, may be charged as a civil offense when charging under Subsection A of this section would be excessive. Any person who violates this chapter or an executive order issued pursuant thereto, or a lawful emergency order of any other public agency or official, who is charged under this Subsection B, shall pay a civil assessment established in the City Schedule of Fees and Penalties.
[2]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 126, Civil Offenses.