01-18-05 -Missing Agenda Item 12TO: Vice Mayor & City Commission DATE: January 18, 2005
FROM: Mary
ORDINANCE
AGENDA ITEM No.
RE: Ordinance Amending Residential
Burglar Alarm Registration Fees
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF
SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA RELATING TO ALARM SYSTEMS; REPEALING
SErmr� 15 4 1N ITS ENTI ETV AND CREATING A NET AMENDING
SECTION 15 -4 -1 THROUGH 15 -4 -10 ENTITLED BURGLARY AND ROBBERY
ALARM; PROVIDING FOR ALARM PERMITTING, PERMITTING FEES AND
FINES FOR NON - COMPLIANCE, ISSUANCE OF FALSE ALARM REPORTS AND
APPEALS OF FALSE ALARM REPORTS; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY,
ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT, AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:
During the current year's budget discussions, City residents requested that we re- evaluate the
City's alarm ordinance regarding renewal fees for residential burglar alarms. In response to this
we had directed staff to draft an ordinance amending the residential fee structure for burglar
alarms. The attached ordinance is in response to that directive, eliminating annual renewal fees for
residential burglar alarm registration after payment of the initial (first year's) registration fee. The
structure for false alarm fines is also altered therein, charging for the second and every subsequent
false alarm within the registration year in order to more accurately reflect the true costs of police
response to those alarms.
RECOMMENDATION:
We recommend Commission approval of the Ordinance
I ORDINANCE NO.
2
3 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE
4 CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA RELATING TO ALARM
5 SYSTEMS; REPEALING T TNG S CT ON 15 A 1N 1TS ENTIRETY AND
6 CREATING A NEW AMENDING SECTION 15 -4 -1 THROUGH 15 -4 -10
7 ENTITLED BURGLARY AND ROBBERY ALARM; PROVIDING FOR
8 ALARM PERMITTING, PERMITTING FEES AND FINES FOR NON -
9 COMPLIANCE, ISSUANCE OF FALSE ALARM REPORTS AND
10 APPEALS OF FALSE ALARM REPORTS; PROVIDING FOR
11 SEVERABILITY, ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT, AND AN EFFECTIVE
12 DATE.
13
14 WHEREAS, by Ordinance No. 24 -80 -1083 the City of South Miami first passed and
15 adopted an ordinance establishing in Chapter 15, Section 15 -4 -1 through 15 -4 -10, rules and
16 regulations regarding the use of burglary alarm systems within the city, procedures for issuing
17 false alarm reports, permitting, fines, and appeals of false alarm reports; and
18
19 WHEREAS, Ordinance No. 23 -90 -1463 amended this Section to require the posting of
20 the telephone number of the person who can be contacted at any hour for entry onto the premises
21 of the alarm and /or deactivation of the alarm; and
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23 WHEREAS, due to modern technology the city's ordinance is obsolete.
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25 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY
26 COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF SOUTH MIAMI, FLORIDA:
27
28 Section 1.
29 seated to read-as- foes=
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31 Sec. 15 -4 -1. Definitions.
32 Unless it is apparent from the context that another meaning is intended, the following words
33 when used in this chapter shall have the meanings attributed to them by this section:
34 (a) Alarm business means the business of any individual, partnership, corporation or
35 other entity engaged in selling, leasing, maintaining, servicing, repairing, altering,
36 replacing, monitoring, moving or installing any alarm system or in causing any alarm
37 system to be sold, leased, maintained, serviced, repaired, altered, replaced, moved or
38 installed in or on any building, structure or facility. An alarm business and/or alarm
39 monitoring company shall be a burglar alarm specialty electrical contractor who shall be
40 properly licensed, and which contractor shall have, as a qualifying agent, a State of
41 Florida or Miami -Dade County company qualifier. A State of Florida or Miami -Dade
42 County company qualifier shall mean a person licensed as a Miami -Dade County master
43 or journeyman burglar alarm specialty electrical contractor, Dade County master
44 electrician, State of Florida alarm contractor, or State of Florida electrical contractor.
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I (b) Alarm permit means a permit issued by the city allowing the operation of an alarm
2 system within the city.
3 (c) Alarm system means any assembly of equipment, mechanical or electrical, arranged to
4 signal the occurrence of an illegal entry or other activity requiring urgent attention and to which
5 the police department is expected to respond, but does not include alarms installed in
6 conveyances or fire alarms.
7 (d) Alarm user means the person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company or
8 organization of any kind which is in control of any building, structure or facility or portion
9 thereof for which an alarm system is maintained.
10 (e) Automatic telephone dialing alarm system means the automatic dialing device or an
11 automatic telephone dialing alarm system and shall include any system which, upon being
12 activated, automatically transmits by telephone or telephone line to the South Miami police
13 department, a recorded message or code signal indicating a need for emergency response; or a
14 system which, upon activation, connects to an answering service whose function it is to transmit
15 to the South Miami police department a need for emergency response.
16 (f) False alarm means an alarm signal eliciting a response by police when a situation
17 requiring a response by the police does not in fact exist; but this definition does not include an
18 alarm signal caused by unusually violent conditions of nature nor does it include other
19 extraordinary circumstances not reasonably subject to control by the alarm user.
20 (g) Location means the building or structure or portion of a building or structure upon which
21 an alarm system is installed or maintained.
22
23 Sec. 15 -4 -2. Alarm permits required; fee; renewal; enforcement provisions.
24 (a) It shall be unlawful for any person to operate an alarm system without a valid alarm user
25 permit. Violation of this section shall be a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as
26 provided for in chapter 775, Florida Statutes.
27
28 (b) Applications must be made to the City of South Miami Alarm Unit which will issue
29 permits to alarm users after payment of the $50.00 residential or $100.00 business alarm permit
30 fee.
31 (c) All alarm user permits will expire on September 30th of each year and must be renewed
32 no later than October 1St of the renewal year. Renewal permits will be issued after completion of
33 an application form and the appropriate payment of the annual permit fee (listed in subsection b).
34 After the initial residential alarm registration fee, residential renewal permits will be issued
35 at no cost upon submission of the application form.
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(d) Whenever the police respond to a location where no alarm permit has ever been issued or
the alarm permit has expired for the alarm system generating a false alarm, a copy of section 15-
4-2 entitled "Alarm permits required; fee; renewal; enforcement provisions," shall be sent to the
alarm user along with written notification as follows:
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1 (1) On Any non - permitted accounts, will ir-e d require payment of the applicable
2 alarm permit fee (renewal fee), plus a $75.00 fine. There could be no police response to
3 subsequent alarms at the location until the fine and the permit fee are paid.
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5 (2) A response to an alarm system where the permit has expired will require payment
6 of the applicable alarm permit fee (renewal fee) plus a $75.00 fine. There could be no police
7 response to subsequent alarms at the location until the fine and the applicable permit fee are paid.
8 (e) If a business has one or more alarm systems protecting two or more separate locations, a
9 separate permit will be required for each location.
10 (f) To reinstate police service to a location the alarm user must obtain a valid alarm permit
11 pursuant to section 15- 4 -2(b) or (c) and pay all outstanding fines as identified in subsection 15 -4-
12 2(d).
13 (g) Subsections (b) through (f) of this section shall not apply in those situations where alarm
14 use permits have been revoked under section 15 -4 -6.
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16 Sec. 15 -4 -3. Application for alarm permit; emergency notification and reporting service
17 information.
18
19 (a) Applications. Applications for alarm permits shall be made on forms provided by the
20 police department. The initial application shall be accompanied by a fee of $50.00 for residential
21 and $100.00 for businesses. The application shall state the name, address and telephone number
22 of the location where the alarm is installed. If the applicant's alarm is installed and serviced by an
23 alarm business, then the alarm business must provide the city with their business name, address
24 and telephone number and obtain the alarm user permit for the applicant prior to the installation
25 of the alarm system. Noncompliance with this subsection by the alarm business will cause the
26 alarm business to incur a $150.00 fine and the refusal by the City of South Miami Alarm Unit to
27 issue any other permits to the alarm business unit until all outstanding fines are paid in full.
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29 (b) Emergency notification. Each application shall list an emergency telephone number of
30 the user or his representative to (1) provide prompt notification of alarm calls at the location and
31 (2) in order to facilitate and permit access to the alarm location by the police in order to inspect
32 the property. Emergency telephone numbers shall be kept current and the City of South Miami
33 Alarm Unit shall be provided immediate written notice of any changes in the contact
34 information. Failure to timely provide updated information may constitute grounds for
35 revocation of the permit.
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37 (c) Reporting service information. Each holder of an alarm user permit shall immediately
38 notify the police department in writing of any and all changes in the information on file with the
39 city regarding the alarm permit. Failure to do so shall constitute grounds for revocation of the
40 permit.
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42 Sec. 15 -4 -4. Necessary items for alarm systems to qualify for an alarm user permit.
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I (a) All alarm systems shall have a backup power supply that shall activate in the event of a
2 power failure or outage in the ordinary source of electricity from the utility company.
3 (b) All alarm systems will have automatic reset capability, which would silence the
4 annunciator within 30 minutes after activation and which will not sound again as a result of the
5 same event that resulted in the original activation of the alarm.
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7 Sec. 15 -4 -5. Response to alarm; determination of validity.
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9 (a) Whenever an alarm is activated in the city, thereby requiring an emergency response to
10 the location by the police department, and the police department does respond and is provided
11 access to the location, a police officer on the scene of the activated alarm system shall inspect the
12 area protected by the system and shall determine whether the emergency response was in fact
13 required as indicated by the alarm system or whether in some way the alarm system
14 malfunctioned and thereby activated a false alarm.
15 (b) If the police officer at the scene of the activated alarm system determines the alarm to be
16 false, said officer shall cause a false alarm report to be generated. A notification shall be mailed
17 or delivered to the alarm user at the location of the alarm system installation and to any other
18 address provided in the permit application contact list, advising the alarm user of the false alarm.
19
20 (c) The City of South Miami Chief of Police, or his alarm unit designee, shall have the right
21 to inspect any alarm system on the premises to which a response has been made and he may
22 cause an inspection of such system to be made at any reasonable time thereafter to determine
23 whether it is being used in conformity with the terms of this article.
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25 Sec. 15 -4 -6. Appeals.
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27 (a) The City of South Miami code enforcement board empowered under section 2 -24 of the
28 South Miami Code of Ordinance to hear appeals of civil infractions shall hear appeals from
29 alarm users on the issue of whether the alarm system in question activated a false alarm, as
30 determined by a police officer at the scene of such activated alarm.
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32 (b) Upon receipt of any false alarm report from the city, the alarm user shall have twenty
33 (20) days, orally or in writing, to request an appellate hearing before the code enforcement board.
34 (c) At the appellate hearing, the alarm user shall have the right to present evidence and
35 testimony.
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37 (d) The hearing officer shall make written findings available to the alarm user and the Chief
38 of Police within ten (10) days from the date the hearing is concluded.
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40 (e) In order to successfully appeal the false alarm report, the appellant must approve by a
41 preponderance of the evidence that the false alarm for which s/he received a false alarm report
42 was not in fact a false alarm, as identified under section 15- 4 -1(f).
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2 Sec. 15 -4 -7. False alarm service charges; enforcement and revocation provisions.
3 (a) It is hereby found and determined that more than six false alarms within any permit year
4 is excessive and constitutes a public nuisance.
5 (b) The activation of false alarms within a permit year will be handled according to the
6 following escalating service fee schedule:
7
8 (1) The first and false alarms will not be billed a service charge. The thud
9 second false alarm will be billed a $50.00 service charge that shall be considered a fine owed by
10 the alarm user to the city. The fewth third false alarm will be billed a $100.00 fine. The fah
11 fourth false alarm will be billed a $150.00 fine. The sigh fifth false alarm and thereafter will be
12 billed a $200.00 fine. Failure to make payment within twenty (20) days of receipt of the fines
13 may result in a discontinuance of police response to alarms that may occur at the premises
14 described in the alarm user's permit until payment is received and will ultimately result in the
15 recording of a lien against the location owner, as provided for in section 2 -24 of the City's Code
16 of Ordinances.
17
18 (2) After the seventh sixth false alarm, the police department is not required to
19 respond, and shall result in revocation of the alarm user's permit in the following manner:
20 a. The alarm user shall be given ten (10) days' advance written notification
21 that the alarm user's permit will be revoked, which written notice shall set forth the reasons for
22 such revocation.
23
24 b. The notice shall specify the specific date of revocation and that the police
25 department may discontinue responding to any alarms that occur at the premises described in the
26 revoked permit after the date of revocation.
27 C. False alarms occurring before the effective date of revocation of permit or
28 while an appeal is pending pursuant to section 15 -4 -6, will continue to accumulate fines which
29 will be billed and handled in accordance with the provisions of subsection 15- 4 -7(b).
30 d. An Any alarm permit that has been revoked under subsection 15- 4 -7(a) —
31 (b), shall be required to pay a reinstatement fee, in addition to the permit fee identified in section
32 15 -4 -3. Reinstatement of the permit and police service will be made upon receipt of a letter from
33 an alarm company licensed in accordance with section 15- 4 -1(a) confirming that the alarm
34 system is operating properly, that the permit holder has received alarm system user's retraining
35 on how to properly operate the alarm system, payment of the alarm permit, and the $75.00
36 reinstatement fee.
IN
38 (3) Nothing within this chapter shall preclude the police department from responding
39 to panic or ambush alarm signals, calls describing emergencies or crimes in progress, or routine
40 calls for service. However, nothing in this chapter may be construed to create a duty to respond
41 in any circumstances where such a duty does not exist pursuant to the statutory or common law
42 of Florida.
43
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I Sec. 15 -4 -8. Automatic telephone dialing alarm systems prohibited.
2 (a) It shall be unlawful for any person, natural or corporate, to sell, offer for sale, install,
3 maintain, lease, operate or assist in the operation of an automatic telephone dialing alarm system
4 over any telephone lines exclusively used by the public to directly request emergency service
5 from the South Miami police department.
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Sec. 15 -4 -9. Fees shall constitute liens.
(a) The fee for false alarms, late fees, penalty charges, violations and costs for deactivating a
nuisance alarm will be declared to be a debt due to the city, and such amount shall constitute a
lien against the premises to the same extent and character as a lien for special assessment, and
with the same penalties and same rights of collection, foreclosure, sale and forfeiture as obtained
for special assessment liens. For services of false alarm response citations (fines) and
registration fees by the city for such service, the underlying location of the alarm (property) shall
be liable for payment. All fees and fines becoming due and payable shall constitute and shall be
imposed as special assessment liens against the real property and, until fully paid and discharged
or barred by law, shall remain liens equal rank and dignity with the lien of the city ad valorem
taxes and superior in rank and dignity to all other liens, encumbrances, titles and claims in, to or
against the real property involved. All delinquent fees and fines shall bear a penalty of one and
one -half per cent month from the due date until fully paid. Unpaid and delinquent fees and fines,
together with all penalties imposed thereon, shall remain and constitute special assessments
against the real property involved. Such special assessment liens may be enforced as provided
for enforcement of city ad valorem taxes, or in alternative, foreclosure proceedings may be
instituted and prosecuted under the provisions of Chapter 173, Florida Statutes, or the
enforcement of payment thereof may be accomplished by any other method authorized by law.
Sec. 15 -4 -10. Schedule of Fees and Fines.
Permit Fees
Residential $50.00
Commercial $100.00
False Alarms
No fee for first
Third Second
Few Third
pith Fourth
Sixth Fifth
Seventh Sixth
Reinstatement/
Fee
$75.00
$75.00
:d seeend
$50.00
$100.00
$150.00
$200.00
Discontinue service
Fine for Alarm Business
$150.00
$150.00
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Section 2. If any section, clause, sentence, or phrase of this ordinance is for any
reason held invalid or unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction, the holding shall not
affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance.
Section 3. All ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict with the provisions of this
ordinance are repealed.
Section 4. This ordinance shall take effect immediately upon approval.
PASSED AND ADOPTED this day of
ATTEST:
CITY CLERK
1St Reading —
2nd Reading
READ AND APPROVED AS TO FORM:
CITY ATTORNEY
APPROVED:
MAYOR
JAMy Documents \resolutions \ordinance alann amended0l .18.05.doc
2004.
COMMISSION VOTE:
Mayor Russell:
Vice Mayor Palmer:
Commissioner Wiscombe:
Commissioner Birts- Cooper:
Commissioner Sherar:
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