44-146.19 - Powers and duties of political subdivisions.
§ 44-146.19. Powers and duties of political subdivisions.
A. Each political subdivision within the Commonwealth shall be within thejurisdiction of and served by the Department of Emergency Management and beresponsible for local disaster mitigation, preparedness, response andrecovery. Each political subdivision shall maintain in accordance with statedisaster preparedness plans and programs an agency of emergency managementwhich, except as otherwise provided under this chapter, has jurisdiction overand services the entire political subdivision.
B. Each political subdivision shall have a director of emergency managementwho, after the term of the person presently serving in this capacity hasexpired and in the absence of an executive order by the Governor, shall bethe following:
1. In the case of a city, the mayor or city manager, who shall appoint acoordinator of emergency management with consent of council;
2. In the case of a county, a member of the board of supervisors selected bythe board or the chief administrative officer for the county, who shallappoint a coordinator of emergency management with the consent of thegoverning body;
3. A coordinator of emergency management shall be appointed by the council ofany town to ensure integration of its organization into the county emergencymanagement organization;
4. In the case of the Town of Chincoteague and of towns with a population inexcess of 5,000 having an emergency management organization separate fromthat of the county, the mayor or town manager shall appoint a coordinator ofemergency services with consent of council;
5. In Smyth County and in York County, the chief administrative officer forthe county shall appoint a director of emergency management, with the consentof the governing body, who shall appoint a coordinator of emergencymanagement with the consent of the governing body.
C. Whenever the Governor has declared a state of emergency, each politicalsubdivision within the disaster area may, under the supervision and controlof the Governor or his designated representative, control, restrict, allocateor regulate the use, sale, production and distribution of food, fuel,clothing and other commodities, materials, goods, services and resourcesystems which fall only within the boundaries of that jurisdiction and whichdo not impact systems affecting adjoining or other political subdivisions,enter into contracts and incur obligations necessary to combat suchthreatened or actual disaster, protect the health and safety of persons andproperty and provide emergency assistance to the victims of such disaster. Inexercising the powers vested under this section, under the supervision andcontrol of the Governor, the political subdivision may proceed without regardto time-consuming procedures and formalities prescribed by law (exceptmandatory constitutional requirements) pertaining to the performance ofpublic work, entering into contracts, incurring of obligations, employment oftemporary workers, rental of equipment, purchase of supplies and materials,levying of taxes, and appropriation and expenditure of public funds.
D. The director of each local organization for emergency management may, incollaboration with (i) other public and private agencies within theCommonwealth or (ii) other states or localities within other states, developor cause to be developed mutual aid arrangements for reciprocal assistance incase of a disaster too great to be dealt with unassisted. Such arrangementsshall be consistent with state plans and programs and it shall be the duty ofeach local organization for emergency management to render assistance inaccordance with the provisions of such mutual aid arrangements.
E. Each local and interjurisdictional agency shall prepare and keep current alocal or interjurisdictional emergency operations plan for its area. The planshall include, but not be limited to, responsibilities of all local agenciesand shall establish a chain of command, and a provision that the Departmentof Criminal Justice Services and the Virginia Criminal Injuries CompensationFund shall be contacted immediately to deploy assistance in the event of anemergency as defined in the emergency response plan when there are victims asdefined in § 19.2-11.01, as well as current contact information for both.Every four years, each local and interjurisdictional agency shall conduct acomprehensive review and revision of its emergency operations plan to ensurethat the plan remains current, and the revised plan shall be formally adoptedby the locality's governing body. In the case of an interjurisdictionalagency, the plan shall be formally adopted by the governing body of each ofthe localities encompassed by the agency. Each political subdivision having anuclear power station or other nuclear facility within 10 miles of itsboundaries shall, if so directed by the Department of Emergency Management,prepare and keep current an appropriate emergency plan for its area forresponse to nuclear accidents at such station or facility.
F. All political subdivisions shall provide an annually updated emergencymanagement assessment to the State Coordinator of Emergency Management on orbefore July 1 of each year.
G. By July 1, 2005, all localities with a population greater than 50,000shall establish an alert and warning plan for the dissemination of adequateand timely warning to the public in the event of an emergency or threateneddisaster. The governing body of the locality, in consultation with its localemergency management organization, shall amend its local emergency operationsplan that may include rules for the operation of its alert and warningsystem, to include sirens, Emergency Alert System (EAS), NOAA Weather Radios,or other personal notification systems, amateur radio operators, or anycombination thereof.
H. Localities that have established an agency of emergency management shallhave authority to require the review of, and suggest amendments to, theemergency plans of nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult day carecenters, and child day care centers that are located within the locality.
(1973, c. 260; 1974, c. 4; 1975, c. 11; 1978, c. 495; 1982, c. 5; 1990, cc.404, 945; 1993, cc. 621, 671, 781; 2000, c. 309; 2003, c. 622; 2004, c. 302;2005, cc. 6, 205; 2006, c. 138; 2007, cc. 97, 129, 138; 2009, cc. 222, 269.)