(A) In the event that any Village police officer or firefighter responds to a fire alarm at any premises in the Village and the responding police officer or firefighter or other Police or Fire Department personnel determines that the alarm was a false alarm in that the alarm system was defective or malfunctioned, the alarm was inadvertently and/or mistakenly activated by an owner, occupant or visitor to the premises, or was otherwise activated for any other reason other than a fire, smoke, or an apparent attempt to enter, or entrance, onto the premises by an unauthorized person, the Police and Fire Departments shall keep a log of the subject premises address and the date of each false alarm per month. If police and/or fire units responding to an alarm and checking the protected premises, do not discover any evidence of unauthorized entry, criminal activity, smoke or fire, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the alarm is false. Police and Fire Department records shall be prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein with regard to alarms and responses.
(B) If the alarm, when communicated to the Fire or Police Department before an officer or fire unit is dispatched to investigate, is clearly identified to the Departments as resulting from authorized entry, authorized system test or other noncriminal cause, presence of smoke due to accidental activation (e.g., burnt food) or any other related incident where the system operated properly, it shall not be considered a false alarm.
(C) By the fifteenth day of each month, the Police and Fire Departments shall submit to the Village Finance Department a copy of the false fire alarm log for the previous month. On a quarterly basis, the Village Finance Department shall send an invoice to the owner(s) of the subject premises at the owner’s last known address demanding payment for false alarms in accordance with the following fee schedule:
(1) First 3 false security alarms: no charge;
(2) Fourth through seventh false alarm: $100 per false alarm;
(3) Each subsequent false alarm: $200 per false alarm.
(D) The owner shall pay the full invoice amount to the Village Cashier within 30 days of the invoice date.
(E) If the owner fails to cause the full invoice amount to be paid to the Village Cashier within 30 days of the invoice date, the Village Finance Director or the Finance Director’s designee may issue a violation notice pursuant to Chapter 39 for the owner’s failure to remit payment pursuant to division (D) of this section.
(Ord. CO-2013-33, passed 4-30-2013)