(a) Before the operation of an alarm system, or within thirty days after the effective date of this amended chapter (Ordinance 06-2023, passed June 6, 2023) for alarm systems in operation on such date, every alarm user in the City shall obtain an alarm user permit annually for each alarm system operated within the City from the Police Department or the Fire Department. This section does not require an alarm system agent or an alarm system contractor to obtain a permit when it leases or provides services to alarm users. However, if an alarm system agent or alarm system contractor uses an alarm system to protect its own premises, it shall obtain a permit. Alarm users shall also comply with the following:
(1) Alarm user permits are not transferrable. A new tenant, property owner, or any other new user must apply for a new permit.
(2) If an alarm user operates both a burglar alarm and a fire alarm from the same electrical panel, only one permit fee is required for the entire system.
(3) Any person or business that uses an alarm system without having a valid user permit shall be responsible for a civil infraction and subject to civil fines and penalties of up to five hundred dollars ($500.00) per alarm use. If the Police Department or Fire Department responds to a call for assistance from a user’s alarm system for which no permit has been obtained, the responding department shall instruct the user to obtain the necessary permit for the alarm system at the premises. The user shall be provided written notice to apply for the necessary alarm permit within fourteen days. If an alarm user permit application is not received within fourteen days, then no later than twenty-one days after the first written notice, the user shall be provided a second written notice to apply for the necessary alarm permit within fourteen days. The Police Department shall send written notices for burglar alarm systems. The Fire Department shall send written notices for fire alarm systems. If an alarm user operates both a burglar alarm and a fire alarm from the same electrical panel, then the notices may be sent by either the Police Department or the Fire Department, but not both. If an alarm user has not obtained a permit to use the alarm system after having been sent two written notices informing the user to obtain a permit and notifying the user that the Police Department or Fire Department will not respond to calls from non-permitted alarm systems, then the Police Department or Fire Department may refuse to respond to any further alarm calls from the user’s premises until an alarm user permit is obtained and any applicable connection fee is paid.
(Ord 14-87. Passed 10-13-87.)
(b) Burglar alarms shall be registered with the Police Department. An alarm user applying for a permit shall pay a registration and inspection fee as provided in Section 802.24
and complete a permit application form annually containing the following information:
(1) Alarm user’s name, and, if applicable, the name of any other person responsible for the alarm system;
(2) The address of the residence or business in or upon which the alarm system has been or will be installed;
(3) Alarm user’s home, business, and cellular telephone numbers, and email address;
(4) The name of the alarm system agent or alarm system contractor selling, installing, monitoring, inspecting, responding to and/or maintaining the alarm system;
(5) The location of the annunciation panel; and
(6) The names and telephone numbers of at least three persons who can be reached at any time, who are authorized to promptly respond to an alarm system, who can open the premises in which the system is installed and who live fifteen miles or less from the premises. The inability of the Police Department to contact an individual named in this paragraph, or the failure of such individual to promptly respond to a police inquiry, shall relieve the Police Department of any obligation to follow up with checking the premises.
(c) Fire alarms shall be registered with the Fire Department. An alarm user applying for a permit under this subsection shall pay a registration and inspection fee as provided in Section 802.24
, and shall complete a permit application annually with the following information:
(1) Alarm user’s name, and, if applicable, the name of any other person responsible for the alarm system;
(2) The address of the residence or business in or upon which the alarm system has been or will be installed;
(3) Alarm user’s home, business, and cellular telephone number(s), and email address;
(4) The name of the alarm system agent or alarm system contractor selling, installing, monitoring, inspecting, responding to and/or maintaining the alarm system;
(5) The location of the annunciation panel; and
(6) The names and telephone numbers of at least three persons who can be reached at any time who are authorized to promptly respond to an alarm system, who can open the premises in which the system is installed and who live fifteen miles or less from the premises. The inability of the Fire Department to contact an individual named in this paragraph, or the failure of such individual to promptly respond to a fire inquiry, shall relieve the Fire Department of any obligation for the safekeeping of property and premises.
(d) Any change in the information required by subsection (b) or (c) hereof shall be reported in writing to the Police Department or the Fire Department, whichever is appropriate, within forty-eight hours of the change.
(Ord. 13-85. Passed 7-16-85; Ord. 06-2023. Passed 6-6-23.)