That's a good question, Senator.
The answer is that declaring a municipal emergency allows the head of council, in this case the mayor, to make decisions very quickly as things change. It could be as simple as saying that we need to redirect a bus route from point A to point B, which would normally have to go through a council process, or that we need to provide certain services that would require a budget and council approval that may not exist, and we may not have a council meeting scheduled for a week or two.
Because of the unknown nature and the fear and the threat that existed after the blockade was cleared, a report went to city council. It recommended that these authorities be rolled up to the city manager, the CAO at the time, Jason Reynar, so he would be able to make those decisions. There were some on city council who felt uncomfortable allowing the CAO that authority, so my declaring a state of emergency wrapped that authority up in the head of council, in the mayor, to be able to deal with anything that was required in the short term.
You'll see that I terminated that emergency within 10 days.