[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Washington 6-14-2012 by L.L. No. 2-2012. Amendments noted where applicable.]
A.
The declared purposes of this chapter are to provide for:
(1)
The preparation and execution of plans for the protection of persons
and property within the Town of Washington (the "Town") and the Village
of Millbrook (the "Village") in the event of a declared emergency;
(2)
The continuity of government services; and
(3)
The coordination of the emergency functions of the Town and the Village
with all other public agencies, corporations, organizations, affected
private persons and properties.
B.
As used in this chapter, an emergency shall exist when proclaimed
by the Town Supervisor. It shall include, but is not limited to, the
actual or threatened existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme
peril to the safety of persons and property within this Town and Village
caused by fire, flood, storm, epidemic, extensive power outages or
earthquake, including conditions resulting from war or imminent threat
of war or any actual or threatened enemy attack or sabotage whether
within or external.
A.
The Joint Town of Washington and Village of Millbrook Disaster Preparedness
Council is hereby created and shall consist of the following members
of each jurisdiction:
(1)
The Town Supervisor of the Town of Washington, who shall be Chairman;
(2)
Deputy Town Supervisor as a Vice Chairman, who shall act as Chairman
in the absence of the Town Supervisor;
(3)
Such additional Town representatives as may be appointed by the Town
Supervisor in his/her sole discretion to serve on the Council, up
to a maximum of three additional Town representatives;
(4)
The Town Clerk;
(5)
The Mayor of the Village of Millbrook;
(6)
The Deputy Mayor of the Village; and
(7)
Such additional Village representatives as may be appointed by the
Village Mayor in his/her sole discretion to serve on the Council,
up to a maximum of three additional Village representatives, hereinafter
collectively referred to as "Joint Town/Village Disaster Council."
B.
The Joint Town/Village Disaster Council shall meet as requested by
the Town Supervisor.
A.
The Joint Town/Village Disaster Council is hereby granted the following
duties and powers:
(1)
To develop a plan for addressing any declared emergency and to prepare
and recommend for consideration and adoption by the Town Board and
the Village Board of Trustees a combined emergency plan with such
local laws, resolutions, rules, and regulations as may be necessary
to implement the emergency plan. The plan shall provide for the mobilization
of the required and available resources of the community, both public
and private;
(2)
To develop and recommend for consideration and adoption any new or
existing mutual aid plans and agreements and the necessary acts to
implement the plans.
B.
By enacting this chapter, the Town and Village each hereby agree
to follow the rules and regulations established by the State of New
York disaster preparedness commission under the provisions of Article
2-B of the New York State Executive Law.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
All officers and employees of the Town and Village, together with those individuals who have enrolled as volunteers to aid during an emergency, and all groups, organizations, and persons who may, by agreement or by operation of law, including persons impressed into service under the provisions of § 31-5B herein, be charged with duties incident to the protection of life and property in the Town and Village during any emergency, shall collectively constitute the "Joint Emergency Services Organization of the Town of Washington and the Village of Millbrook" (referred to as the "Joint Town/Village Emergency Services Organization"). The structure, organization, duties, and functions of the Joint Town/Village Emergency Services Organization shall be incorporated in an emergency plan recommended by the Joint Village/Town Disaster Council and approved by both the Town of Washington Town Board and the Village of Millbrook Board of Trustees.
The Town Supervisor is designated as the Chairman of the Joint
Town/Village Emergency Services Organization.
A.
As Chairman, the Supervisor is hereby empowered:
(1)
To proclaim the existence or threatened existence of a local state
of emergency, as set forth under § 24 of the New York State
Executive Law, and to terminate the local emergency;
(2)
To request the appropriate sequence of authority to proclaim a state
of emergency when, in the opinion of the Supervisor, the locally available
resources are inadequate to cope with the emergency;
(3)
To coordinate the efforts of the Joint Town/Village Emergency Services
Organization for the accomplishment of the purposes of this chapter;
(4)
To direct cooperation between and coordination of services and officers
in charge of the Joint Town/Village Emergency Services Organization
and resolve questions of authority and responsibility that may arise
between them;
(5)
To be responsible for civil authority for this Town in all dealings
with the public and private agencies on matters pertaining to emergencies
as defined herein;
(6)
To accept and approve, on behalf of and without cost to the Town,
and in cooperation with the federal government and the State of New
York, licenses or privileges granted for the use of private property
for the sole purpose of temporarily sheltering persons and animals
as a result of the declared emergency.
B.
In the event of the proclamation of a local state of emergency as
herein provided, the proclamation of a state of emergency by the Governor,
County Executive or the Director of the State Disaster Preparedness
Commission, or the existence of a state of war emergency, the Town
Supervisor is hereby empowered, and it shall be his/her duty:
(1)
To make and issue rules and regulations on matters reasonably related
to the protection of life and property as affected by the declared
emergency;
(2)
To obtain vital supplies, equipment, and any other properties found
lacking and necessary for the protection of life and property and
to bind the Town for the fair market value thereof. "Fair market value"
is defined as the price, expressed in terms of cash equivalents, at
which property would change hands between a hypothetical willing and
able buyer and a hypothetical willing and able seller, acting at arms
length in an open and unrestricted market, when neither is under compulsion
to buy or sell and when both have reasonable knowledge of the relevant
facts. If fair market value cannot be agreed upon within 30 days between
the resident ("seller") and the Town ("buyer"), fair market value
will be established by averaging formal and enforceable bids obtained
by the buyer and the seller from independent vendors. A minimum of
one and a maximum of two formal and enforceable bids will be submitted
by the buyer and the seller and the two, three or four bids will be
averaged to determine fair market value. These bids must be submitted
within 60 days following the end of the above referenced thirty-day
time period. Additionally, at least one bid from both the buyer and
seller will be supplied from a vendor doing business in the Village
of Millbrook or the Town of Washington, if such exists.
(3)
To require emergency services of any Town officer or employee and,
in the event of the proclamation of a state of emergency in this Town
or the existence of a state of war emergency, to command the aid of
as many citizens of the community as the Town Supervisor deems necessary
in the execution of his duties. Such persons shall be entitled to
all privileges, benefits, and immunities as are provided by state
law for registered disaster service workers;
(4)
To requisition necessary personnel or material of any Town department
or agency;
(5)
To enter into agreements with public and private agencies for the
performance of any special services and duties as may be necessary
in the judgment of the Town Supervisor to carry out the provisions
of this chapter;
(6)
To execute all of his ordinary powers as Town Supervisor, all of
the special powers conferred on him by this chapter and all powers
conferred on him by any other lawful authority;
(7)
To delegate any and all authority on matters related to the protection
of life and property as affected by the declared emergency.
C.
Any powers granted to the Supervisor, as Chairman, within this § 31-5 are in addition to any authority under § 24 of the New York State Executive Law.
D.
Nothing herein shall be deemed as a restraint upon the Mayor of the
Village of Millbrook in exercising any authority granted to the Mayor
under § 24 of the New York State Executive Law.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
There is hereby created the position of Vice Chairman of Joint
Town/Village Emergency Services Organization. The Deputy Town Supervisor
shall be the Vice Chairman of the Joint Town/Village Emergency Services
Organization. The Vice Chairman, in the absence of or at the direction
of the Chairman, shall act on his behalf on matters within the purview
of this chapter.
A.
There is hereby created the office of Director of the Joint Town/Village
Emergency Services Organization. The Director of Emergency services
shall be appointed by the Town Supervisor and the Village Mayor.
B.
The Director shall be subordinate only to the Town Supervisor and
Village Mayor and he/she shall work in close cooperation with the
Joint Town/Village Disaster Council and with the heads of the several
departments of the municipal government and the officers in charge
of the emergency services and under the general supervision of the
Town Supervisor and Village Mayor. The Director shall maintain the
necessary contacts with the State Disaster Preparedness Commission
and the several local disaster councils within the county and state.
The Director shall not be considered an employee of either the Town
of Washington or the Village of Millbrook. The position of Director
may be filled by one individual or multiple individuals, or the duties
of the Director may be fulfilled by the Joint Town/Village Disaster
Council or the Joint Town/Village Emergency Services Organization.
The emergency functions of the Town/Village Emergency Services
Organization shall be set forth in the Joint Emergency Operations
Plan of the Town of Washington and the Village of Millbrook. Department
heads responsible for planning, coordination, and integration of personnel
from other Town and Village departments and agencies into their services
for emergency operations shall be designated in the plan. These designated
department heads shall formulate functional emergency plans, which,
when approved by the Joint Town/Village Disaster Council, shall become
an annex to the emergency operations plan. These department heads
shall also develop such mutual aid plans and agreements as may be
approved by the Town of Washington Town Board and Village of Millbrook
Board of Trustees. Departments with area-wide functions and responsibilities
may become parties to joint venture emergency action agreements or
compacts with the recommended approval of the Joint Town/Village Disaster
Council.
The purchaser of supplies on behalf of the Town/Village emergency
services organization shall be the Town Clerk of the Town of Washington.
The Town Clerk will assume the responsibility of the custodian of
special equipment and other property obtained from any source for
use of the emergency services organization during and after the declared
emergency. He/she is hereby authorized to act as the agent of the
Town to receive from any agency the loan or use of any equipment or
property on conditions that may be prescribed by that agency. He/she
shall keep an account of the property entrusted to his control according
to the terms of its acceptance and, where there are no terms provided
by the agency, then upon the terms as the Chairman may prescribe.
He/she shall keep records of the receipt and distribution of property
and make available when needed. He/she may issue or distribute the
property only to the persons entitled thereto under the rules of the
emergency services.
All persons, other than officers and employees of the Town or
Village, volunteering services pursuant to the provisions of this
chapter and the emergency plan shall serve without compensation from
the Town. While engaged in the services, they shall have the same
immunities as officers and employees of the Town performing similar
duties. All volunteers, other than noncitizen volunteers, shall be
required to take a loyalty oath in a form to be prescribed and approved
by the Joint Town/Village Disaster Council, the loyalty oath to be
administered to the noncitizen volunteer only on his consent. Current
data maintained to provide information for deployment of volunteer
workers shall include status of loyalty oath for each worker.
Any expenditures made in connection with emergency activities,
including mutual aid activities, shall be deemed conclusively to be
for the direct protection and benefit of the inhabitants and property
of the Town.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
It shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not to exceed
$1,000, or by imprisonment not to exceed one year, or both, for any
person during an emergency to:
A.
Willfully obstruct, hinder, or delay any member of the emergency
services in the enforcement of any lawful rule or regulation issued
pursuant to this chapter or in the performance of any duty imposed
on him by virtue of this chapter.
B.
Do any act forbidden by any lawful rule or regulation issued pursuant
to this chapter, if the act is of such a nature as to give, or be
likely to give, assistance to the enemy or to imperil the lives or
property of inhabitants of this Town, or to prevent, hinder, or delay
the defense or protection thereof.
C.
Wear, carry, or display, without authority, any means of identification
specified by the emergency agency of the state.
If any provision of this chapter or the application thereof
to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity shall
not affect other provisions or applications, and to this end the provisions
of this chapter are declared to be severable.
