Redondo declares ‘local emergency’ to safeguard against coronavirus

The City of Redondo Beach on Thursday declared a local emergency to safeguard the community against a possible local outbreak of the novel coronavirus, pursuant to a proclamation by City Manager Joe Hoefgen.

According to a press release, the city is doing so as a preventive measure — as yet, there have been no confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus within Redondo. The city’s measure hopes to reduce the spread of the virus, protect those most likely to experience severe symptoms and minimize the “social and economic impacts” of the virus.

As part of the proclamation, the city will increase cleaning at public facilities; temporarily close the city’s three senior centers; postpone public events of 250 or more people at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center; and prepare contingency plans in the event employees contract the virus.

“It’s intended to increase awareness locally, to provide a basis for some of the actions that we’ve taken,” Hoefgen said in an interview. It also positions the city to seek state and federal disaster relief reimbursement, if necessary.

The Redondo Beach City Council will receive a report on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 at its March 17 meeting. At that meeting, the council will be presented with a resolution to affirm the local state of emergency.

“That will streamline decision-making if we need to take other actions to change the way that we function as a city government, and put in place other safeguards to streamline the process,” Hoefgen said.

Those changes could consist of further drawing down the size of allowable gatherings and moving City Council meetings toward virtual meetings or teleconferences to altering library services and counter service at city hall.

The Redondo Beach City Charter empowers the City Manager (who is also named as the “Director of Emergency Services”) to proclaim a local emergency if the City Council is not in session; the council then has seven days to ratify the proclamation, or it loses effect.

According to Hoefgen, the option to declare a local emergency was raised following similar state and county declarations, when it became “inevitable that we needed to take some action to help safeguard the most vulnerable in our community.”

The decision was made after consulting other senior department heads within City Hall, including the Police and Fire chiefs and the City Attorney, and informing the Council.

“Given how easily this virus is spread and the associated death rate, particularly for the elderly and immunocompromised, it’s important for everyone to work together to minimize the spread of the virus and to protect those most vulnerable,” Mayor Bill Brand said via text message.

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