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The City of Mound does ordain:
Section 940 - Alarm Systems to Summon Public Safety,
is hereby added to the City Code to read as follows:
SECTION 940 - ALARM SYSTEMS TO SUMMON PUBLIC SAFETY
940.05 Definitions. For the purpose of this section the following definitions shall apply:
- Subd. 1. Alarm System. Any mechanical or electrical alarm installation designed to be used for the prevention or detection of burglary, robbery, medical, carbon monoxide, fire or other condition on the premises that contains an alarm installation. Automobile devices shall not be considered an alarm system under this section.
- Subd. 2. Alarm User. Any person, owner, occupant, tenant, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company or organization of any kind upon whose premises, building, structure or facility an alarm system is maintained.
- Subd. 3. Calendar Year. The period January 1 through December 31 of each year.
- Subd. 4. False Alarm. An alarm signal eliciting a response by public safety personnel when a situation requiring a response does not, in fact, exist and which is caused by the activation of the alarm system through mechanical failure, alarm malfunction, improper installation or the inadvertence of the alarm owner or lessee of an alarm system or of such owner or lessee’s caused by climatic conditions such as tornadoes, thunderstorms, utility line mishaps, violent conditions of nature or any other conditions which are clearly beyond the control of the alarm manufacturer, installer, owner or alarm user.
Federal and/or State agencies and political subdivisions of the Federal or State government shall be exempt from user fees or false alarms otherwise prohibited for by this section.
- Subd. 5. Public Safety Personnel: Employee(s) of the City Fire and Police Departments including fire fighters, police officers and other emergency service personnel who may respond to assist on requests for mutual aid.
- 940.10 Violations. Any alarm user who, within one calendar year, has more than three false police alarms, or more than two false fire alarms, shall be in violation of this section. The City shall impose a fee, which shall be on a graduated scale, as is set forth by the City Council pursuant to Section 500 of the City Code.
940.15 Review False Alarm Calls. The Chief of Police, or the Chief’s designee, shall review all alarm calls to the Police Department. The Chief of Police, or the chief’s designee, will notify all households, businesses or other establishments, which utilize alarm systems, when an alarm has been responded to by the Police Department. The Police Department shall keep an annual record of alarm calls and shall notify all households, businesses or other establishments, which utilize alarm systems, when they are in violation of this section. The Fire Chief, or the Chief’s designee, shall follow the same procedure listed above.
940.20 Process for Notice of Violations. Upon receipt and determination of the fourth false police alarm report or the third false fire alarm report to an address, the Chief of Police, the Chief’s designee, the Fire Chief, or designee, after review, shall then assess the alarm user for an alarm user’s violation fee. The alarm user must submit the required violation fee to the City of Mound within thirty (30) working days after receipt of invoice. Failure to pay the fee within thirty days will cause the alarm user to be considered delinquent and subject to penalty of a full ten percent of the fee.
All delinquent charges against the respective properties served may be certified to the County Auditor for collection with real estate taxes in the following year. In addition the City shall also have the right to bring civil action or take other legal remedies to collect unpaid fees.
Any subsequent false police or fire alarms at that address within the calendar year shall result in an increased fee in accordance with the fee schedule, as provided for in City Code Chapter 500. This process shall be repeated for each and every false alarm in excess of three (3) false police alarms and in excess of two (2) false fire alarms during each calendar year.
940.25 Duration of the Record of False Alarms. The record of all responded to false alarms will be closed, and will expire at the end of each calendar year. False alarms, not occurring curing the current calendar year, shall not be counted as a false alarm for fee enhancement purposes.
Ordinance No. 01-2006
940.30 Letter of Contestation. After the Chief of Police, Fire Chief, or designees determine that a false alarm has occurred at an address, the alarm user at that address may submit a letter of contestation to the Chief of Police or the Fire Chief to explain the cause of the alarm activation. If the Chief of Police or Fire Chief determine that the alarm was caused by conditions beyond the control of the alarm user, the alarm will not be counted as a false alarm at that address.
False alarms will be excused if they are the result of an effort or order to upgrade, install, test, or maintain an alarm system and if the Police or Fire Department is given notice in advance of said upgrade, installation, test or maintenance.
940.35 Confidentiality. Information submitted in compliance with this section shall be held in confidence and shall be deemed a confidential record exempt from discovery to the extent permitted by law.
Subject to requirements of confidentiality, the Chief of Police and Fire Chief may develop and maintain statistics for the purpose of ongoing alarm systems evaluation.
940.40 Communication Center. No automatic dialing devices shall be connected to the Mound Police Department, the Mound Fire Department or the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Communication Center through any telephone line without that agency’s express written permission. Use of automatic dialing devices will be considered a violation of this section.
940.45 Separability. Every subsection, provision, or part of this section is declared separable from every other subsection, provision or part and if any subsection, provision or part of any section shall be held invalid, it shall not affect any other subsection, provision or part thereof.
Passed by the City Council this 10th day of January, 2006.
Published in The Laker the 21st day of January, 2006.
Effective the 22nd day of January, 2006.
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