HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrd 472 Creating a Westlake Department of Public SafetyTOWN OF WESTLAKE
ORDINANCE NO. 472
AN ORDINANCE OF THE TOWN OF WESTLAKE, TEXAS, CREATING THE TOWN
OF WESTLAKE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY; CREATING THE POSITIONS
OF DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SAFETY AND PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICERS;
PROVIDING FOR THE DUTIES, POWERS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THESE
POSITIONS; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING A SAVINGS
CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, the Town of Westlake deems it necessary and expedient to provide better
and more efficient fire, police, and emergency medical services to residents of the Town
pursuant to Section 342.004 of the Local Government Code; and
WHEREAS, the Board of Aldermen determines that it is in the best interest of the
citizens of Westlake to create the Town of Westlake Department of Public Safety.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN OF
THE TOWN OF WESTLAKE, TEXAS:
SECTION 1: All matters stated in the preamble are found to be true and correct and are
incorporated herein by reference as if copied in their entirety.
SECTION 2: A Department of Public Safety for the Town of Westlake is hereby created
and established, for the protection of life and property from hazardous situations, for the giving
of aid, and for the suppression and prevention of crime and fire.
SECTION 3: Under the direction of the Town Manager, the Director of the Department
of Public Safety shall plan, administer, and coordinate the municipal public safety program
involving law enforcement, police patrol, fire prevention and control, and emergency medical
services; shall direct the activities of the Chiefs of the Police and Fire Services; and shall perform
related work as required.
SECTION 4: A Public Safety Officer shall have the same powers, duties, and
responsibilities as any member of the Town of Westlake Police and Fire Services, and may
exercise all powers conferred upon those members in the Code of Ordinances of the Town of
Westlake and the Statutes of the State of Texas.
SECTION 5: Public Safety Officers performing the duties of emergency medical service
shall have the right to function as ambulance attendants. Those ambulance attendants shall have
the authority to pick up any injured or sick person(s) found on public or private property
whenever the need arises and also when and if requested to do so by a person responsible for the
sick or injured person.
Ambulance Service may be provided to persons outside the Town when a mutual aid agreement
has been approved by the Board of Aldermen.
It shall be the sole responsibility of the Department of Public Safety person in charge of the
ambulance at the emergency scene to specify the hospital to which the patient will be taken,
based on the hospital's capability and severity of the case.
The person transported, or if the person is a minor or incompetent, then that person's parent or
guardian, shall be responsible for the fees or charges incurred for the Town's Emergency
Ambulance Service. The fees or charges shall be payable to the Town of Westlake, Texas.
False Statement of Emergency: It shall be unlawful for any person to willfully inform the
Police[Fire Dispatcher, or other police or fire official that an ambulance or more than one
ambulance is needed at a location or address when that person knows that the statement is false.
Private ambulance service in the Town of Westlake will be allowed only upon the issuance of a
permit through the Director of Public Safety of Westlake, Texas. Private ambulance companies
will be restricted to non -emergency calls, transfers, removal of deceased persons, and sick calls
of a non -emergency nature. Mortuaries are not required to obtain a permit.
The Director of Public Safety or his designee is authorized to permit a private ambulance
company to respond to emergency calls only if the Town ambulance or mutual aid ambulance is
not available for the call.
SECTION 6: No officer shall be elected or appointed within the organization of the
Department of Public Safety without the approval of the Town Manager.
SECTION 7: Every officer, agent or employee of the Town while responding to
emergency calls or reacting to emergency situations, regardless of whether any declaration of
emergency has been declared or proclaimed by a unit of government or subdivision thereof, is
hereby authorized to act or not to act in such a manner to effectively deal with the emergency.
An action or inaction is "effective" if it in any way contributes or can reasonably be thought by
the provider of such emergency service to contribute to preserving any lives or property. This
Section shall prevail over every other Ordinance, Resolution, Rule, or Order of the Town and, to
the extent the Town has the authority to so authorize, over any other law establishing a standard
of care in conflict with this section. Neither the Town nor the employee, agent or officer thereof,
or any other unit of government or subdivision thereof, or its employees, agents or officers shall
be liable for failure to use ordinary care in such emergency.
SECTION 8: Members of the Department of Public Safety performing the duties and
functions associated with Emergency Services are authorized to go outside the corporate limits
of the Town of Westlake for the purpose of rendering aid to other departments and agencies, or
of extinguishing fires or rendering aid in the case of accidents. Provided, that the Department
shall not render such service outside the corporate limits except upon orders of the Director or
his designee or the Town Manager; but where the Town has undertaken by contract to render
service to property outside the corporate limits, the Department may leave the corporate limits in
the fulfillment of the contract.
SECTION 9: The Town Manager is authorized to assign the duties and responsibilities
of the Department or any portion or services performed by the Department to another
governmental entity pursuant to a contract authorized by the Board of Aldermen. In the case of
such an assignment, the Town Manager may authorize the utilization of Town of Westlake
Department equipment and resources by the contracting entity.
SECTION 10: This Ordinance shall be cumulative of all other Ordinances and shall not
repeal any of the provisions of those Ordinances except for those instances where there are direct
conflicts with the provisions of this Ordinance. Ordinances or parts thereof in force at the time
this Ordinance shall take effect and that are inconsistent with this Ordinance are hereby repealed
to the extent that they are inconsistent with this Ordinance.
SECTION 11: If any section, article, paragraph, sentence, clause, phrase or word in this
Ordinance, or application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid or
unconstitutional by a Court of competent jurisdiction, such holding shall not affect the validity of
the remaining portions of the Ordinance, and the Board of Aldermen hereby declares it would
have passed the remaining portion of this Ordinance despite such invalidity, and the remaining
portions shall remain in full force and effect.
SECTION 12: All other Ordinances in effect and not in conflict with this Ordinance
shall remain in full force and effect.
SECTION 13: The Town Secretary of the Town of Westlake is hereby directed to
engross and enroll this Ordinance by copying the exact Caption and Effective Date clause in the
minutes of the Board of Aldermen of the Town of Westlake and by filing this Ordinance in the
Ordinance records of the Town.
SECTION 14: This Ordinance shall take effect from and after its date of passage in
accordance with law, and it is so ordained.
PASSED AND APPROVED THIS 14TH DAY OF FEBRUARY 2005.
ATTEST:
an Dwinnell, Town Secretary
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
anton Lo wn omey
Scott Bradley, ayor
Trent O. Petty, Town ger