Regular City Council Meeting Agenda June 23, 2026
Agenda
City of Vernon
Special City Council Meeting
Tuesday, June 23, 2026, 4:00 PM
City Hall, Council Chamber
4305 Santa Fe Avenue, Vernon, California
Melissa Ybarra, Mayor
Jesus Rivera, Mayor Pro Tem
Crystal Larios, Council Member
Judith Merlo, Council Member
Monica Rodriguez, Council Member
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CALL TO ORDER
FLAG SALUTE
ROLL CALL
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
PUBLIC COMMENT
Members of the public interested in addressing the City Council during this Special meeting may address any item which has been described in the notice of this Special Meeting in accordance with Government Code Section 54954.3(a).
NEW BUSINESS
Regular City Council Meeting Agenda June 23, 2026
1. Ratification of Proclamation of Local Emergency
Recommendation:
Adopt Resolution No. 2026-034 ratifying the Chief Executive Officer’s proclamation of local emergency as a result of the threat to public health from the Palos Warehouse Fire.
ADJOURNMENT
On June 22, 2026, the foregoing agenda was posted in accordance with the applicable legal requirements. Regular and Adjourned Regular meeting agendas may be amended up to 72 hours and Special meeting agendas may be amended up to 24 hours in advance of the meeting.
Regular City Council Meeting Agenda June 23, 2026
Guide to City Council Proceedings
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2.04.020).
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Regular City Council Meeting Agenda June 23, 2026
City Council Agenda Report
Meeting Date: June 23, 2026
From: Brian Saeki, City Administrator
Department: City Administration
Submitted by: Lilia Hernandez, Deputy City Administrator Subject
Ratification of Proclamation of Local Emergency
Recommendation
Adopt Resolution No. 2026-034 ratifying the Chief Executive Officer’s proclamation of local emergency as a result of the threat to public health from the Palos Warehouse Fire.
Background
On June 17, 2026, a structural fire ignited in a large cold storage warehouse in the Boyle Heights neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles (Palos Warehouse Fire). The Palos Warehouse Fire generated a substantial smoke plume prompting the South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD) to issue a Particle Pollution Advisory that has since been extended daily. Located just north of City of Vernon boundaries, the Palos Warehouse Fire has impacted air quality in the City and throughout the region. Subsequently, on June 20, 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed a State of Emergency to exist in Los Angeles County due to the Palos Warehouse Fire (Attachment 2).
On June 20, 2026, Mayor Melissa Ybarra, acting as the Chief Executive Officer of the Disaster Council, issued a Proclamation of Local Emergency declaring the existence of a local state of emergency in the City of Vernon due to the Palos Warehouse Fire.
Pursuant to Government Code Section 8630 and Vernon Municipal Code Section 2.36.050(B)(1), the local emergency shall not remain in effect for a period in excess of seven days unless the Proclamation has been ratified by the City Council. If adopted, the Resolution will constitute ratification of the Proclamation by the City Council.
Fiscal Impact
There is no direct fiscal impact associated with adoption of the resolution. The actions taken by the City in response to the local emergency may have a fiscal impact depending on the actions taken.
Attachments
1. Resolution No. 2026-034 Ratifying Local Emergency
2. California Proclamation of a State of Emergency
Item 1 Page 5 of 14
RESOLUTION NO. 2026-034
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF VERNON
RATIFYING EMERGENCY PROCLAMATION NO. 2026-001, A
PROCLAMATION OF LOCAL EMERGENCY DUE TO THE PALOS
WAREHOUSE FIRE
SECTION 1. Recitals.
A. Under the California Emergency Services Act (California Government Code sections 8630, 8550 et seq.), California Government Code section 8555(c)(1) defines a “Local Emergency” as the existence of conditions of disaster or extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the territorial limits of a city, caused by conditions such as epidemics, fires, floods, or civil unrest.
B. Government Code Section 8630 and Vernon Municipal Code Section 2.36.050 authorize the Vernon Disaster Council Chief Executive Officer to proclaim the existence or threatened existence of a local emergency when the City Council is not in session so long as the proclamation is ratified by the City Council within seven days.
C. Vernon Municipal Code Section 2.36.020 defines an “emergency” as the actual or threatened existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the City caused by such conditions as air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, or earthquake, or other conditions, including conditions resulting from war or imminent threat of war, but other than conditions resulting from a labor controversy, which conditions are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of the City, requiring the combined forces of other political subdivisions to combat.
D. On June 17, 2026, a structural fire ignited in a large cold-storage warehouse facility in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles (Palos Warehouse Fire), located within one mile of City of Vernon boundaries.
E. The Palos Warehouse Fire involves a large commercial cold-storage facility that contains complex refrigeration systems, rooftop solar panel infrastructure, and other industrial equipment. During firefighting operations, emergency responders encountered complex conditions including hazardous materials such as ammonia, requiring a specialized and multijurisdictional response and air monitoring, as well as continued fire flare ups.
F. The Palos Warehouse Fire has generated a substantial smoke plume necessitating shelter-in-place orders in the area, which have since been lifted, and continued smoke and particle pollution advisories throughout neighboring communities, including the City of Vernon.
G. The cold storage warehouse rooftop solar infrastructure, hazardous materials, Item 1 Page 6 of 14
Resolution No. 2026-034
_______________________
lithium-ion batteries on site, and approximately 85 million pounds of decaying food products contribute to an incident beyond the mitigation capabilities of traditional firefighting equipment and methods available to the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County.
H. Local agencies, including the City of Vernon, have responded to this emergency to mitigate the incident and assess the damage and ongoing impacts to human health, air quality, water quality, wildlife, business, and transportation, thereby demonstrating the need for combined forces and resources beyond the individual agencies.
I. Response efforts to the fire and post-fire hazards are ongoing and likely to continue for a significant time, the fire continues to generate a substantial smoke plume that covers large areas of the region, and the incident is impacting City of Vernon residents, businesses, and City operations due to smoke and particle pollution advisories.
J. On June 20, 2026, a State of Emergency was proclaimed by Governor Gavin Newsom, the Chair of the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors, and Mayor Karen Bass on behalf of the City of Los Angeles.
K. Effective June 20, 2026, Mayor Melissa Ybarra, acting in her capacity as Chief Executive Officer of the Disaster Council, issued a Proclamation declaring the existence of a local state of emergency in the City of Vernon due to the Palos Warehouse Fire, and on June 22, 2026 signed Emergency Proclamation No. 2026-001, attached hereto as Exhibit A.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF VERNON AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 2. The City Council of the City of Vernon hereby finds and determines that the above recitals are true and correct.
SECTION 3. The City Council of the City of Vernon has reviewed the Proclamation and hereby ratifies Emergency Proclamation No. 2026-001, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit A.
SECTION 4. In accordance with Vernon Municipal Code Chapter 2.36 and applicable law, the City Council declares that due to an imminent threat to health and safety as a result of the Palos Warehouse Fire that a local emergency exists within the City of Vernon’s territorial limits.
SECTION 5. The City Administrator, as the Director of Emergency Services, is empowered to carry out all emergency powers conferred upon him as the Director of Emergency Services by local and state laws, and by all other lawful authority, as may be necessary to protect life and property.
Item 1 Page 7 of 14
Resolution No. 2026-034
_______________________
SECTION 6. The City Clerk is directed to forward a copy of this Resolution to the County of Los Angeles and the California Director of the Office of Emergency Services with a request to find it acceptable in accordance with provisions of the Natural Disaster Assistance Act; and that the City’s Director of Emergency Services or his assistant is hereby declared as the City’s authorized representative for the purpose of receiving, processing and coordinating all inquiries and requirements needed to obtain valuable state and, if needed, federal assistance.
SECTION 7. The City Administrator or his designee is designated as the Local Hazard Mitigation Coordinator of the City of Vernon for the purpose of assessing the threat to the people in the City as a result of the Palos Warehouse Fire and consulting with Federal, State, County and other authorities as necessary to assess the threat and to take appropriate actions to address the threat including taking actions authorized by law including, but not limited to Vernon Municipal Code Section 2.36.070 which authorizes the Director 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 Chief Executive Officer and the City Council.
SECTION 8. This local emergency will continue to exist until otherwise determined by City Council resolution.
SECTION 9. Severability. If any provision of this Resolution or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications, and to this end, the provisions of this Resolution are declared to be severable.
SECTION 10. The City Clerk, or Deputy City Clerk, shall certify the passage and adoption of this resolution and enter it into the book of original resolutions.
APPROVED AND ADOPTED June 23, 2026.
MELISSA YBARRA, Mayor
ATTEST:
GENOVEVA ROCHA, City Clerk
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
ZAYNAH MOUSSA-MILWARD,
City Attorney
Item 1 Page 8 of 14
Resolution No. 2026-034
_______________________
CERTIFICATION
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ) ss.
CITY OF VERNON )
I do hereby certify that the attached is a true copy of Resolution No. 2026-034 that was passed and adopted at the Special Meeting held on June 23, 2026, by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAIN:
__________________________
GENOVEVA ROCHA, City Clerk
Item 1 Page 9 of 14
EMERGENCY PROCLAMATION No. 2026-001
A PROCLAMATION OF THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF VERNON, CALIFORNIA,
ACTING AS THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE DISASTER COUNCIL,
DECLARING THE EXISTENCE OF A LOCAL EMERGENCY
WHEREAS, Chapter 2.36 of the Vernon Municipal Code (VMC) designates the Mayor as the Vernon Disaster Council Chair and Chief Executive Officer and VMC Section 2.36.050 empowers the Vernon Chief Executive Officer to proclaim the existence or threatened existence of a local emergency when the City of Vernon is affected or likely to be affected by a public calamity and the City Council is not in session; and WHEREAS, on June 17, 2026, a structural fire ignited in a large cold-storage warehouse facility in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles (Palos Warehouse Fire), located within one mile of City of Vernon boundaries; and WHEREAS, the Palos Warehouse Fire involves a large commercial cold-storage facility that contains complex refrigeration systems, rooftop solar panel infrastructure, and other industrial equipment. During firefighting operations, emergency responders encountered complex conditions including hazardous materials such as ammonia, requiring a specialized and multijurisdictional response and air monitoring, as well as continued fire flare ups; and WHEREAS, the Palos Warehouse Fire has generated a substantial smoke plume necessitating shelter-in-place orders in the area, which have since been lifted, and continued smoke and particle pollution advisories throughout neighboring communities, including the City of Vernon; and
WHEREAS, the cold storage warehouse rooftop solar infrastructure, hazardous materials, lithium-ion batteries on site, and approximately 85 million pounds of decaying food products contribute to an incident beyond the mitigation capabilities of traditional firefighting equipment and methods available to the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County; and WHEREAS, local agencies, including the City of Vernon, have responded to this emergency to mitigate the incident and assess the damage and ongoing impacts to human health, air quality, water quality, wildlife, business, and transportation, thereby demonstrating the need for combined forces and resources beyond the individual agencies; and WHEREAS, response efforts to the fire and post-fire hazards are ongoing and likely to continue for a significant time, the fire continues to generate a substantial smoke plume that covers large areas of the region, and the incident may continue to impact the health and safety of City of Vernon residents, businesses, and City personnel and operations due to smoke and particle pollution; and
WHEREAS, in response to air quality concerns and potential duration of the fire, the City of Vernon activated its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) on June 17, 2026 at Level 3 and elevated its EOC activation to Level 2 on June 20, 2026; and WHEREAS, on June 20, 2026, a State of Emergency was proclaimed by Governor Gavin Newsom, the Chair of the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors, and Mayor Karen Bass on behalf of the City of Los Angeles; and
WHEREAS, the Chief Executive Officer of the City of Vernon does hereby find that conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property have arisen within said City, caused by the current fire, including in California and Los Angeles County, and that these conditions are or are likely to be beyond the control of the existing services, personnel, equipment and facilities of the City of Vernon; and
Resolution No. 2026-034
___________________
Exhibit A
Item 1 Page 10 of 14
Emergency Proclamation No. 2026-001 Page 2 of 2
WHEREAS, the conditions and circumstances described above warrant and necessitate that the City proclaim the existence of a local emergency within the meaning of Government Code Section 8558(c)(1) and VMC Section 2.36.010.
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY PROCLAIMED by the City of Vernon Chief Executive Officer that a local emergency now exists throughout the entire City of Vernon.
IT IS FURTHER PROCLAIMED AND ORDERED, that the Chief Executive Officer of the City of Vernon authorizes the City Administrator to furnish information and enter into any necessary agreements to obtain any emergency assistance to implement necessary intervention activities to prevent a threatened epidemic of disease in the community, and to take necessary measures to protect and preserve the public health and safety from said public health hazard.
IT IS FURTHER PROCLAIMED AND ORDERED, that the City Administrator is hereby authorized to make and issue policies and regulations on matters necessary to the protection of life and property within the City of Vernon and within scope of the local emergency hereby proclaimed.
IT IS FURTHER PROCLAIMED AND ORDERED, that during the existence of said local emergency, the powers, functions, and duties of the emergency organization of this City shall be those prescribed by state law, by ordinances, and resolutions of this City; and that this emergency proclamation shall expire seven (7) days after issuance unless confirmed and ratified by the governing body of the City of Vernon. In addition, the City Council shall review the need for continuing the local emergency at least once every 30 days until the local emergency is terminated by resolution.
IT IS FURTHER PROCLAIMED AND ORDERED, that a copy of this proclamation be forwarded to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the LA County Office of Emergency Management, the State Office of Emergency Services requesting that the Director of the State Office of Emergency Services find it acceptable in accordance with State Law; that the Governor waive regulations that may hinder response and recovery efforts; that recovery assistance be made available under the California Disaster Assistance Act; and that the State expedite access to County, State and Federal resources and any other appropriate federal disaster relief programs.
EFFECTIVE DATE: June 20, 2026
MELISSA YBARRA,
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE DISASTER COUNCIL
Mayor, City of Vernon
Resolution No. 2026-034
___________________
Item 1 Page 11 of 14
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
PROCLAMATION OF A STATE OF EMERGENCY
WHEREAS on June 17, 2026, a structural fire ignited in a large cold storage warehouse in the Boyle Heights neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles in Los Angeles County (“Palos Warehouse Fire”); and
WHEREAS the Palos Warehouse Fire involved a large commercial coldstorage facility that contained refrigeration systems, rooftop solar-panel infrastructure, and other industrial equipment; and
WHEREAS during firefighting operations, emergency responders encountered complex conditions, including hazardous materials such as ammonia, requiring a specialized response and air monitoring, as well as continued fire flare ups; and
WHEREAS the Palos Warehouse Fire generated a substantial smoke plume necessitating a shelter-in-place order, which has since been lifted, and smoke and particle pollution advisories throughout neighboring communities; and WHEREAS the cold-storage warehouse rooftop solar infrastructure, hazardous materials, and lithium-ion batteries on site, and approximately 85 million pounds of decaying food products contribute to an incident at the warehouse beyond the mitigation capabilities of traditional firefighting equipment and methods available to the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County; and
WHEREAS under the provisions of Government Code section 8558(b), I find conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property exist due to the Palos Warehouse Fire in Los Angeles County; and
WHEREAS under the provisions of Government Code section 8558(b), I find the conditions caused by the Palos Warehouse Fire, by reason of their magnitude, are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of any single local government and require the combined forces of a mutual aid region or regions to appropriately respond; and
WHEREAS under the provisions of Government Code section 8625(c), I find that local authority is inadequate to cope with the magnitude of the extreme peril posed by the Palos Warehouse Fire; and
WHEREAS under the provisions of Government Code section 8571, I find that strict compliance with various statutes and regulations specified in this Proclamation would prevent, hinder, or delay the mitigation of the effects of the Palos Warehouse Fire in the City of Los Angeles.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, in accordance with the authority vested in me by the State Constitution and statutes, including the California Emergency Services Act, and in particular, Government Code section 8625, HEREBY PROCLAIM A STATE OF EMERGENCY to exist in Los Angeles County due to the Palos Warehouse Fire.
Item 1 Page 12 of 14
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:
1. All agencies of the state government utilize and employ state personnel, equipment, and facilities for the performance of any and all activities consistent with the direction of the Office of Emergency Services and the State Emergency Plan. Also, all residents are to obey the direction of emergency officials with regard to this emergency in order to protect their safety.
2. The Office of Emergency Services shall provide assistance to the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, if appropriate, under the authority of the California Disaster Assistance Act, Government Code section 8680 et seq., and California Code of Regulations, Title 19, section 2900 et seq.
3. As necessary to assist local governments and for the protection of public health and the environment, state agencies shall enter into contracts to arrange for the procurement of materials, goods, and services necessary to quickly assist with the response to and recovery from the impacts of this emergency. Applicable provisions of the Government Code and the Public Contract Code, including but not limited to travel, advertising, and competitive bidding requirements, are suspended to the extent necessary to address the effects of this emergency.
4. The restrictions set forth in Penal Code section 396, which are automatically triggered upon proclamation of a state of emergency, are suspended, and no such restrictions are imposed, with respect to the Palos Warehouse Fire in Los Angeles County.
I FURTHER DIRECT that as soon as hereafter possible, this Proclamation be filed in the Office of the Secretary of State and that widespread publicity and notice be given of this Proclamation.
Item 1 Page 13 of 14
This Proclamation is not intended to, and does not, create any rights or benefits, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity, against the State of California, its agencies, departments, entities, officers, employees, or any other person.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have
hereunto set my hand and caused
the Great Seal of the State of
California to be affixed this 20th day
of June 2026.
________________________________
GAVIN NEWSOM
Governor of California
ATTEST:
________________________________
SHIRLEY N. WEBER, Ph.D.
Secretary of State
Item 1 Page 14 of 14