(a) For the purposes of this Section, a fire alarm shall be deemed and construed as being any act as follows: The giving, signaling, or transmission to any public fire station or company or to any officer or employee, whether by telephone, electronically, alarm system, spoken word, or otherwise, of information to the effect that there is a fire, at or near the place indicated by the person or alarm system signaling or transmitting such information.
(b) Whenever a false alarm issues, the alarm issuer may be assessed a Fifty Dollars ($50.00) penalty per piece of responding firefighting apparatus for each false and/or faulty alarm recorded within any calendar year after the occurrence of the second false and/or faulty alarm requiring Fire Department response. Said penalty shall be paid by the alarm user to the City of Greenwood Controller who shall deposit the funds in the Non-Reverting Fire Safety Fund.
(c) If the above fine is not paid within thirty (30) days of its due date, then in addition to said penalty, there shall be a late fee of Twenty-Five and no/100 Dollars ($25.00).
(d) The enforcing authority for this Section shall be the City of Greenwood Fire Department, the Controller, and Corporation Counsel.
(e) Any alarm company, alarm user, or any other individual or party affected by and subject to a fine under this section shall have the right to appeal the fines and penalties to the Board of Public Works and Safety by requesting such an appeal in writing within thirty (30) days of the issuance of the fine. Parties must be notified of this right to appeal at the time the fine is issued.
(f) The Board of Public Works and Safety shall have the discretion to waive such fines when in its sole discretion it determines it is in the best interest of justice and the public interest.
(g) It shall be unlawful for any person to tamper with or injure any fire alarm equipment maintained for the purpose of transmitting fire alarms to the Fire Department.
(h) Nothing in this Section shall prohibit the sounding of any signal essential for the carrying on of any fire drill. The Fire Chief or his/her designee must be notified at least twenty-four (24) hours in advance of when a fire drill is to take place.