City To Ratify State Of Emergency At Tuesday Meeting

The Yakima City Council will hold a special meeting Tuesday after both the city of Yakima and Washington State declared a state of emergency because of the winter storm. But the city needs to ratify the Mayor's declaration of emergency within 72 hours of it being issued to maintain the declaration's effect. So the city is holding a special meeting beginning at 11:00 a.m. at Yakima City Hall Tuesday to ratify the declaration.

The declaration of emergency authorized the City Manager to engage contractors and expend resources as may become necessary to deal with the effects of the severe storm and will assist the City in obtaining state and federal assistance.
City officials say the city has declared weather emergencies in the past. In 1996 a state of emergency was declared for a big snow storm. Other emergencies have been declared for the Mt. St. Helens eruption and last year for the Rattlesnake Ridge.