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Council hears first reading of emergency-management ordinance to modernize definitions and EOC requirements
Summary
On first reading, Council reviewed Administration Bill 1-2026 to update Chapter 136 (Emergency Management) with modern definitions, liaison requirements with other jurisdictions and redundant emergency operations center capabilities; no vote was taken on the ordinance tonight.
Lancaster City Council on Jan. 13 read Administration Bill 1-2026 for first reading, an ordinance intended to update Chapter 136 of the city code to modernize emergency-management language and operational requirements.
City staff read the ordinance title into the record: it would add definitions for “all hazards” and “emergency operations center,” amend definitions of “disaster” and “emergency management,” require liaison between the city emergency management director and county, state and federal authorities and neighboring political subdivisions, and require primary and backup emergency operations centers to be equipped with identical capabilities and redundant communications, with locations to be specified in the emergency operations plan. The ordinance also proposes removing the city code requirement that the city emergency management team operate from the county emergency operations center if city facilities are unusable.
Councilors said they had received a memo from Deputy Chief Krista Long outlining the changes and asked clarifying questions about references to a county courthouse facility; one councilor observed the county once had an EOC in the courthouse basement but that site had been decommissioned and county facilities were in transition.
The ordinance was read for first reading only and will return for a vote at a future meeting.
