posted on Thursday, February 04, 2010 2:10 PM
by
administrator
Alarm Ordinance Discussed for Tiffin, OH
Possible fees for alarm permits were discussed at a recent Tiffin, OH, City Council Law and Community Planning meeting.
City Administrator Wayne Stephens and Fire Chief Bill Ennis have been working to update procedures for alarm permits in private residences and business, last updated in 1993. Permits, issued for smoke detectors, fire alarms, burglar alarms and the like, are required if property owners want the city to monitor the alarms.
Stephens said the biggest change includes the addition of a $25 annual permit fee.
"For all the years that we've issued alarm permits, we've never charged a fee," Stephens said. "We have over 280 alarms, and I can tell you, that creates a lot of work."
The city does not charge to monitor the alarm systems and a fee would help cover costs.
Another change is an increases in fees for false alarms. Previously, a third false alarm fee was $20, a fourth was $30, a fifth was $40 and a sixth was $60 and permit revocation. The changes would double the fees.
While the city does not want to revoke permits, Stephens said that after six offenses, the property owner needs to address the reason for frequent activation.
"Obviously we don't want people to have their permit revoked, so we have them educate their employees or fix their equipment, because typically a false alarm is caused by employee error or faulty equipment," Stephens said.
In addition, charges are to be increased if firefighters or police have to wait longer than 30 minutes for a response from the business or home owner. Originally, $15 was charged if the wait was longer than 20 minutes, but the fee is to increase to $30 for the first half hour and $30 for every half hour after.
Ennis also suggested a fee if police or firefighters are unable to contact any of three individuals provided as contacts by the property owner in the case of an alarm.
The committee approved the changes to the alarm procedures and authorized Howard to create legislation based on Ennis' draft.