A vote to renew Cordova’s emergency declaration failed, then narrowly passed upon reconsideration, at a Wednesday, Sept. 2 meeting of Cordova City Council.
Emergency Ordinance 1191 extends the city’s declaration of emergency and attaches a copy of the city’s color-coded health alert system to its health advisory plan. Upon the initial vote, the measure was supported by city council members David Glasen, Jeff Guard, Melina Meyer and Cathy Sherman, and opposed by city council members David Allison and Tom Bailer. City Councilwoman Anne Schaefer was absent from the meeting. An emergency ordinance must obtain at least five votes in favor in order to pass.
Allison, who has previously expressed skepticism that Cordova’s circumstances constitute a genuine emergency, pointed out that Cordova’s Incident Management Team has suspended meetings indefinitely.
“The emergency side of this thing is done, in my opinion,” Allison said.
After Ordinance 1191 failed an initial vote, the council launched into a confused debate over the implications of declining to renew the city’s emergency declaration. The city’s previous emergency declaration expired Tuesday, Sept. 1, Ordinance 1191 retroactively extending to cover the gap.
“We may be putting ourselves in a really bad position at this very moment in time,” City Manager Helen Howarth told the council. “I’m unclear if we’ve just undone something that we need to have in play… I don’t know exactly, legally, what we just undid.”
During the council’s discussion, little consensus emerged as to whether the city was, at that moment, still under an emergency declaration; whether, if the city’s emergency declaration were lifted, face-covering rules would stay in effect; or whether the city would forfeit federal funding if it did not remain under an emergency declaration. Although, according to emergency rules, the city manager is empowered to issue an emergency declaration, there was disagreement over whether Howarth would have retained the power to issue a new emergency declaration if the previous emergency declaration was, in fact, no longer in effect.
Eventually, the council moved to reconsider the ordinance, with Bailer voting in favor despite reservations about the city’s color-coded alert system. Allison cast the sole vote against the reconsidered ordinance.
“I don’t disagree with our procedures or with our plan,” Allison said. “I understand and appreciate the work that everybody’s been doing towards all of these things, but I think I speak for at least one-seventh of our community that thinks that an emergency doesn’t last six months, or 12 months… I think it’s critical and it’s important, but I guess I have a different definition of ‘emergency.’”
