A. If the Alarm Administrator assesses a fee or fine, suspends an alarm registration or denies the issuance, renewal or reinstatement of an alarm registration, the Alarm Administrator shall send notice of the action and a statement of the right to appeal to the affected applicant, alarm user, alarm installation company or alarm monitoring company.
B. The applicant, alarm user, alarm installation company or alarm monitoring company may appeal any action described in division A. above to the Police Chief (or his or her designee) by setting forth in writing the reasons for the appeal and delivering the appeal to the Police Chief (or designee) within 20 days after receipt of notice of the action. Failure to deliver the appeal within that time period is a waiver of the right to appeal.
C. The procedure for an appeal to the Police Chief (or designee) is as follows:
1. The applicant, alarm user, alarm installation company or monitoring company may file a written request for appeal by paying an appeal fee and setting forth the reasons for the appeal. The appeal must be entitled “Appeal from Alarm Administrator’s Action.” The appeal fee shall be in an amount established by resolution of the City Council and will be returned to the appealing party if the appeal is successful.
2. The Police Chief (or designee) shall conduct a hearing on the appeal within 30 days after the Police Department’s receipt of the request for appeal and appeal fee and shall consider the evidence submitted by the appealing party and the Alarm Administrator. The Police Chief (or designee) must base the decision on the preponderance of evidence presented at the hearing and must render a decision within 15 days after the date of the hearing. The decision shall affirm or reverse the decision or action taken by the Alarm Administrator. The decision of the Police Chief or designee shall be the final decision in the matter.
3. Filing of an appeal stays any action by the Alarm Administrator to suspend an alarm registration or require the payment of a fee or fine until the appeal process has been exhausted. This provision applies only to the action of the Alarm Administrator that is the subject of the appeal. This provision does not operate as a bar to enforcement action on violations of this section that occur thereafter.
D. The Alarm Administrator or the Police Chief, or their respective designees, may adjust the count of false alarms or assessed fees based on:
1. Evidence that a false alarm was caused by action of a communications services provider (i.e., telephone, cellular, cable company);
2. Evidence that a false alarm was caused by a power outage of more than 4 hours or severe weather such as a tornado, earthquake, or excessive winds (35 m.p.h. or above as measured by a local, recognized weather monitoring station);
3. Evidence that an alarm dispatch request was not a false alarm; or
4. The occurrence of multiple alarms within a 24-hour period, which may be considered as 1 false alarm if the alarm user has taken corrective action, unless the false alarms are directly caused by the alarm user.
E. The Alarm Administrator may waive all or part of a false alarm fine due to extenuating circumstances or to encourage corrective action with supervisor approval.
(Ord. 1479, passed 5-16-2018)