State of local emergency extended to Oct. 11
The city of Cape Coral will not have to call a special meeting if the mayor or city manager want to extend the state of local emergency.
At the Public Works building at the Nicholas Street Annex on Monday, Council unanimously approved a resolution to extend the state of local emergency by seven days, effective Tuesday, to Oct. 11, as the city’s original declaration was about to expire.
It was one of several resolutions passed by Council that have been created so residents and city workers can better get through the disaster that was Hurricane Ian.
The city can only declare states of emergency in seven-day increments.
Additionally, Council gave Mayor John Gunter and City Manager Rob Hernandez the authority to declare any further extensions, if necessary, or to cancel an extension, without having to call a special meeting.
Also, if you planned to go to any meetings aside from city council meetings, you can cancel those plans as City Clerk Kimberly Bruns has cancelled all non-city council meetings for the rest of October.
The only meetings in October will be the City Council meetings on Oct. 12 and 26 and the Committee of the Whole meeting on Oct. 19.
Council also approved extending the date for required leave use for city employees, from Sept. 30 to Jan. 31, 2023, as it will be very difficult for city workers to get much time off during a period of declared emergency.
The city also waived permit fees for emergency permits for 180 days from the date of adoption. It approved declaring a Habitable Structure Emergency and waived the requirements for the number of temporary storage containers, also for 180 days.
Vince Cautero said residents, business owners, governmental agencies and medical facilities will be allowed to live and conduct business on the same site as their damaged structure.
All votes were unanimous.
To reach CHUCK BALLARO, please email news@breezenewspapers.com