City of Simi Valley
Staff Report
July 27,
2026
TO: City
Council
FRO
M: Police Department
Steve Shorts, Chief of Police
SUBJECT: Second reading of Ordinance No . 1368 updating Municipal Code Chapter 5, Title 4, adopting the updated Emergency Operations Plan Staff Recommendation
It is recommended that Ordinance No. 1368 be adopted.
Background
The attached Ordinance No. 13 68 was i ntroduced for f irst reading at t he City C ouncil meeting of June 22, 2026, without modifications.
Suggested Motion
I move to adopt Ordinance No. 1368 without modifications.
Prepared by: Lucy Blanco, City Clerk
Attachments
Attachment A - Ordinance No. 1368
Agenda Item No.
8A
Attachment A
ORDINANCE NO. 1368
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF SIMI VALLEY REPEALING AND
REPLACING CHAPTER 5 OF TITLE 4 OF THE SIMI VALLEY
MUNICIPAL CODE, EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SIMI VALLEY HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1: REPEAL AND REPLACEMENT OF ORDINANCE NO. 578, TITLE 4, CHAPTER 5, SECTIONS 4-5.01 through 4-5.10.
Ordinance No. 578, Title 4, Chapter 5, Sections 4-5.01 through 4-5.10 of the Simi Valley Municipal Code is hereby repealed and replaced to read as follows:
4-5.01 Purposes.
The declared purposes of this chapter are to provide for the preparation and carrying out of plans for the protection of persons and property within the jurisdiction of the City, Districts, Agency, and Authority in the event of an emergency: the direction of the Emergency Organization; and the coordination of the emergency functions of the City with all other public agencies, corporations, organizations, and affected private persons.
4-5.02 Emergency defined.
As used in this section, the following terms shall mean:
“Assistant director of emergency services” means at the discretion of the director of emergency services, an assistant director of emergency services may be appointed. The employee shall be from the fire chief, or the police chief, or administration departments, or other city employees as determined suitable by the director of emergency services.
“Council” shall mean the City of Simi Valley City Council. “Director of emergency services” shall mean the city manager or assistant city manager, and if unavailable or unable to respond, the director of emergency services will be either the police chief, fire chief, or public works director. The director of emergency services reports directly to the city council and is over the director of the emergency operations center.
“Emergency” or “local emergency” shall mean the actual or threatened existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within this city caused by such conditions as air pollution, toxic release, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, earthquake, cyberterrorism, or other conditions, including conditions resulting from war or imminent threat of war, but other than conditions resulting from labor controversy, or other acts of civil unrest which are likely to be 2 beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of this city, requiring the combined forces of other political subdivisions to resolve. “Emergency operations center” shall mean the primary facility for directing and responding to situations of an emergency nature as described above or similar in nature, including communications and the allocations of personnel and equipment needed to respond to the situation.
“Emergency operations center director” shall mean the individual responsible for the city’s coordinated operational efforts to respond to the emergency situation. The director of the emergency operations center is in charge of the functional response divisions and reports to the director of emergency services. “Emergency services coordinator” means the director of emergency services shall appoint an emergency services coordinator to be responsible for the emergency operations plan described in section 4-5.08.
4-5.03 Disaster Council: Membership.
The City of Simi Valley Disaster Council is hereby created and consists of the following:
(a) Director of Emergency Services, who shall be chair; (b) The Assistant Director of Emergency Services, who shall be vice chair; (c) The Emergency Services Coordinator;
(d) Such chiefs of emergency services as are provided for in a current Emergency Plan of the City adopted pursuant to this chapter; and (e) Such representatives of civic, business, labor, veterans, professional, or other organizations having an official emergency responsibility as may be appointed by the Director with the advice and consent of the City Council.
4-5.04 Disaster Council: Powers and duties: Meetings.
It shall be the objective of the City of Simi Valley Disaster Council, and it is hereby empowered to develop and recommend for adoption by the City Council and district boards, emergency and mutual aid plans and agreements and such ordinances, resolutions, rules, and regulations as are necessary to implement such plans and agreements. The Disaster Council shall meet upon call of the chair or, in the chair’s absence from the City or inability to call such a meeting, upon call of the vice chair.
4-5.05 Director and Assistant Director of Emergency Services.
The City Manager shall be the Director of Emergency Services, and has the discretion, in periods of declared disasters, to create and staff the position of Assistant Director of Emergency services.
The Director of Emergency Services may also, at the discretion of the City Council, staff the position of Assistant Director in non-emergency periods to continue to assist the city in emergency preparedness, as well as the recovery and 3 reconstruction efforts following an emergency.
4-5.06 Director and Assistant Director of Emergency Services: Powers and duties.
(a) The Director is hereby vested with the necessary discretionary authority to:
(1) Request the City Council to proclaim the existence or threatened existence of a "local emergency" if the City Council is in session, or to issue such proclamation if the City Council is not in session. Whenever a local emergency is proclaimed by the Director, the City Council shall take action to ratify the proclamation within seven (7) days thereafter, or the proclamation shall have no further force or effect:
(2) Request the director of the Ventura County Operational Area and the Governor to proclaim a "state of emergency" when, in the opinion of the Director, the circumstances are beyond the City’s capacity to adequately respond to or recover from the emergency.
(3) Control and direct the effort of the Emergency Organization of the City for the accomplishment of the purposes of this chapter;
(4) Direct cooperation between and coordination of services and staff of the Emergency Organization of the City and resolve questions of authority and responsibility that may arise between them;
(5) Represent the City and districts in all dealings with public or private agencies on matters pertaining to emergencies as defined herein; and (6) In the event of the proclamation of a "local emergency" as herein provided, the proclamation of a "state of emergency" by the Governor or the Director of the State Office of Emergency Services, or the existence of a "state of war emergency," the Director is hereby similarly empowered:
(i) To make and issue rules and regulations on matters reasonably related to the protection of life and property as affected by such emergency; provided, however, such rules and regulations must be confirmed at the earliest practicable time by the City Council; (ii) To obtain vital supplies, equipment, and such other properties found lacking and needed for the protection of life and property and to bind the City for the fair value thereof, and, if required immediately, to commandeer the same for public use;
(iii) To require emergency services of any City or district officer or employee and, in the event of the proclamation of a "state of emergency" in the County or the existence of a "state of war emergency," to command the aid of as many citizens of this community as deemed necessary in the execution of duties; such persons shall be entitled to all privileges, benefits, and immunities as are provided by State law for registered disaster service workers;
(iv) To requisition necessary personnel or material of any City department or agency; and
(v) To execute all ordinary power as City Manager, all of the special powers conferred by this chapter or by resolution or Emergency Plan 4 pursuant hereto adopted by the City Council, and all powers conferred by any statute, by any agreement approved by the City Council, and by any other lawful authority.
(b) The Director of Emergency Services shall designate the order of succession to that office, to take effect in the event the Director is unavailable to attend meetings or otherwise perform duties during an emergency. Such order of succession shall be approved by the City Council.
(c) The Assistant Director shall, under the supervision of the Director and with the assistance of emergency service chiefs, develop emergency plans and manage the emergency programs of the City and shall have such other powers and duties as may be assigned by the Director.
4-5.07 Emergency Organization.
All officers and employees of the City, together with those volunteer forces enrolled to aid them during an emergency, and all groups, organizations, and persons who may by agreement or operation of law, including persons impressed into service under the provisions of subsection (iii) of subsection (6) of subsection (a) of Section
4.5.06 of this chapter, shall be assigned to undertake efforts incident to the protection of life and property in the City during such emergency and will constitute the Emergency Organization of the City of Simi Valley.
4-5.08 Emergency Plan.
The City of Simi Valley Disaster Council shall be responsible for the development of the City of Simi Valley Emergency Plan, which plan shall provide for the effective mobilization of all of the resources of the City, both public and private, to meet any condition constituting a local emergency, state of emergency, or state of war emergency and shall provide for the organization, powers and duties, services, and staff of the Emergency Organization. Such plan shall take effect upon adoption by resolution of the City Council.
4-5.09 Expenditures.
Any expenditures made in connection with emergency activities, including mutual aid activities, and emergency preparedness services provided the City under contract or agreement, shall be deemed conclusively to be for the direct protection and benefit of the inhabitants of the City, public and private property within the City and adjacent environs, the Simi Valley County Sanitation District and the Ventura County Waterworks District No. 8. The Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District and/or the Simi Valley Unified School District may petition by certified resolution to the City Council to include their districts within a City emergency proclamation.
4-5.10 Violations: Penalties.
It shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not to exceed One Thousand 5 and no/100ths ($1000.00) Dollars, or by imprisonment for not to exceed six (6) months, or both, for any person, during an emergency, to:
(a) Wilfully obstruct, hinder, or delay any member of the Emergency Organization in the enforcement of any lawful rule or regulation issued pursuant to this chapter or in the performance of any action undertaken by him by virtue of the adoption of this chapter;
(b) Do any act forbidden by any lawful rule or regulation issued pursuant to this chapter, if such 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 the City, or to prevent, hinder, or delay the defense or protection thereof; or (c) Wear, carry, or display, without authority, any means of identification specified by the emergency agency of the State, County, or City.
4-5.11 Compliance with the California Emergency Services Act
The City of Simi Valley Disaster Council shall comply with the California Emergency Services Act.
4-5.12 Repeal of Conflicting Ordinances
It is the intent of the City Council in enacting this chapter that it shall be considered a revision and continuation of the chapter repealed by this chapter, and the status of volunteers shall not be affected by such repeal; nor shall plans and agreements, rules and regulations, or resolutions adopted pursuant to such repealed chapter be affected by such repeal until amended, modified or superseded as provided in this chapter.
4-5.13 Severability
If any provision of this ordinance or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications, and to this end the provisions of this ordinance are declared to be severable.
SECTION 2: Invalidity. If any part of this Ordinance or its application is deemed invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the City Council intends that such invalidity will not affect the effectiveness of the remaining provisions or applications and, to this end, the provisions of this Ordinance are severable.
SECTION 3: Electronic Signatures. This Ordinance may be executed with electronic signatures in accordance with Government Code §16.5. Such electronic signatures will be treated in all respects as having the same effect as an original signature.
SECTION 4: The City Clerk is directed to certify the passage and adoption of this Ordinance; cause it to be entered into the City of Simi Valley book of original 6 ordinances; make a note of the passage and adoption in the records of this meeting; and, within 15 days after the passage and adoption of this Ordinance, cause it to be published or posted in accordance with California law.
SECTION 5: This Ordinance will take effect on the 30
th day following its final passage
and adoption.
PASSED AND ADOPTED this 27th day of July, 2026.
Attest:
_________________________________ ________________________________ Lucy Blanco, City Clerk Dee Dee Cavanaugh, Mayor of the City of Simi Valley, California
APPROVED AS TO FORM: APPROVED AS TO CONTENT:
_________________________________ _________________________________ Algeria R. Ford, City Attorney Samantha C. Argabrite, City Manager
________________________________
Charles “Steve” Shorts
Chief of Police
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