Government

Council approves emergency plans, future projects

Jul 18, 2012

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The Maricopa City Council fine-tuned the city’s “in case of emergency” plans and procedures during Tuesday’s meeting at the Maricopa Unified School District administrative building, unanimously approving several measures regarding the city’s responses to emergency situations.

COUNCIL IN BRIEF

• The council approved administrative amendments to the Emergency Response and Recovery Plan. This is a master plan delineating how city should handle emergencies such as floods, extreme weather, hazardous-material releases or terrorist events. It contains standard operating procedures for these events, as well as a host of other administrative procedures.

The approved amendments are primarily administrative, updating the plan’s cover to include the town’s newer logo, reformatting the plan where necessary and removing procedures required to be confidential for security purposes.

• The council also formalized an intergovernmental agreement with the Maricopa Unified School District for use of its facilities in the event of emergency.

Although the city can already requested the use of the facilities, grounds, vehicles and buildings in the event of a declared disaster or emergency, no formal agreement has been in place. MUSD won’t charge any rent to use the facilities, but the city will be responsible for replacing or reimbursing the school district for any food used and avoid damaging any equipment or buildings during use.

Building projects were also on Tuesday’s agenda.

• The council delayed voting on approving the site plan for the proposed Donald N. Pearce Fire Station due to initial reviews showing the project coming in over budget. The project now is scheduled to be discussed, and possibly voted on, during the Aug. 7 council meeting.

• The mayor and city council unanimously approved adopting a development agreement with Sonoran Creek, LLC. Also approved was an intergovernmental agreement with the Pinal County Flood Control District to jointly serve as a qualified agency for the project.