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Home My WebLink AboutORD NO 3980ORDINANCE NO. 3 9 8 O AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAKERSFIELD AMENDING CHAPTER 5.08 OF THE BAKERSFIELD MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO ALARM SYSTEMS. BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the City of Bakersfield as follows: SECTION 1o Section 5.08.010 of Chapter 5.08 of the Bakersfield Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 5.08.010 Definitions, As used in this chapter: A. "Alarm owner' means any person who owns, leases, rents, uses or makes available for use by his agents, employees, representatives or family, any alarm system. B. "Alarm system" means any assembly of equipment and devices, including audible alarms and proprietor alarms, arranged to signal the presence of fire, robbery, or unauthorized intrusion into or onto a building, structure, facility or premises, the signals from which are calculated to solicit or could reasonably cause the solicitation of urgent attention from safety personnel of the city. The folEowing devices shall not constitute alarm systems within the meaning of this subsection: 1. Devices which do not register alarms that are audible, visible or perceptible outside the protected premises; 2. Panic alarms; 3. Alarm devices affixed to motor vehicles. C. "Alarm system installer' means any individual, partnership, corporation orotherform of association that engages in the business of installing, altering or upgrading an alarm system. D: "Alarm system monitoring company" means any person that engages in the business of monitoring alarm systems and reporting any activation of such alarm systems to city safety personnel. E. "Audible alarm" means an alarm system which generates a sound audible outside the protected premises. F. "City" means the city of Bakersfield. G. "Direct dial device" means a device which is connected to a telephone line and, upon activation of an alarm system, automatically dials a predetermined telephone number and transmits a message or signal Page I of 6 H. "False alarm" means an alarm signal calculated to solicit or which could reasonably cause the solicitation of the urgent attention of city safety personnel where an emergency does not exist. An alarm signal activated by violent conditions of nature or other extraordinary circumstances not subject to the controll of the alarm owner shall not constitute a false alarm. Signals from defective alarm systems shall be deemed to be within the control of the owner. I. "Panic alarm" means an alarm designated to bs activated when assistance is needed because of illness, injury or any other reason not caused by fire, robbery or burglary. J. "Person" means any natural person, partnership, corporation or other legal entity. SECTION 2 Section 5.08.020 of Chapter 5.08 of the Bakersfield Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 5.08.020 City permit required. It is unlawful for any person to install, connect, alter, operate, use or maintain, or to cause to be installed, connected, altered, operated, used or maintained, any alarm system within the city without first having obtained an alarm system permit in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and such permit has not expired or been revoked or suspended. The alarm owner or user shall post the permit number in a manner and at locations required by the regulations promulgated by the Chief of IF~olice or his/her designee. SECTION 3 Section 5.08.025 of Chapter 5.08 of the Bakersfield Municipal Code is hereby added to read as follows: 5.08.025 Alarm owners. An alarm owner shalh A. Post the permit number in a manner and at locations required by the regulations promulgated by the Chief of Police or his/her designee; B. Reviewall alarm system operating instructions, includingthoseforverificationofan alarm; C. Notify the alarm system monitoring company of a false alarm activation as soon as the owner is aware of the false alarm; and D. Notmanuallyactivateanalarmexceptwhenneedinganimmediateresponsebycity safety personnel. Page 2 of 6 SECTION 4 Section 5.08.065 of Chapter 5.08 of the Bakersfield Municipal Code is hereby added to read as follows: 5.08.065 Alarm system monitoring companies. An alarm system monitoring company engaging in business activity in the city shall: A. Obtainandmaintainallnecessarybusinesslicensesandpermitsasrequiredbythe city and the state of California prior to commencing business within the city; EL Maintain acurrent record, accessible to the police department upon request of any authorized representative thereof, that includes: the name(s) of the alarm owner(s) within the city who are served by the company; the addresses of the protected properties; the type of alarm system; original installation date and subsequent modifications, if any, for each protected property; the alarm permit number of the protected properties; the name, address and telephone number of the individual(s) from whom entry to the premises may be obtained; and a record of the false alarms at each property. C. Provide the alarm permit number assigned to an alarm system by the police department to the dispatcher at the time an alarm is reported to the communications center by an alarm system monitoring company, a central monitoring station, a telephone answering service or any other business that monitors and reports alarms; D. Providethechiefofpoliceorhis/herdesigneesuchinformationasthechiefrequests regarding: the nature of the company's security alan~s; the company's method of monitoring the alarms; the company's program for preventing false alarms, including educational programs for alarm users; and the company's method for disconnecting audible alarms; E. Provide each of its alarm system owners with: operating instructions for the alarm system, including an explanation of the alarm company's alarm verification process, a telephone number to call for assistance in operating the system, and a summary of the provisions of this ordinance relating to penalties for false alarms and the possibility of no police response to alarm systems where the permit therefor has been suspended/revoked; F. Maintainaverificationprocessforallmonitoredsecuritysystemsinordertoprevent unnecessary safety personnel dispatches resulting from false alarms; G. Communicate requests for city safety personnel response in a manner specified by the chief of police or his/her designee; H. Communicate requests for cancellations for city safety personnel response in a manner specified by the chief of police or his/her designee; I. Maintain a record of all requests for city safety personnel response to an alarm, including: the date and time of the alarm and request for' police and/or fire response; the alarm system owner's name and address; evidence of the company's attempt to verify the alarm; and, to the best of its knowledge, an explanation of the cause of any false alarm; and J. Work cooperatively with the alarm system owner and the chief of police or his/her designee in order to determine the cause of any false alarm and to prevent reoccurrences. Page 3 of 6 SECTION 5 Section 5.08.100 of Chapter 5,08 of the Bakersfield Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 5.08.100 Alarm appeals board. The board shall consist of three members appointed by the city manager to serve until replaced, one of whom shall be an engineer in the public works department, one of whom shall be a representative of the planning department, and one of whom shall be a representative of the city manager's office. The board shall adopt rules and regulations for the conduct of its business. All decisions of the board shall be made in writing. The board shall have jurisdiction to review all appeals of orders issued by the chief of police and his subordinates involving denials of applications or reapplications for alarm system permits, suspensions of alarm system permits and assessments of service fees for excessive false alarms as set forth in this chapter. The board may affirm, modify or set aside any such order or decision. All decisions of the board shall be final and conclusive. SECTION 6 Section 5.08.110 of Chapter 5.08 of the Bakersfield Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 5.08.110 Appeal procedure. Any applicant for an alarm system permit whose application is denied by the chief of police or any permittee whose permit is suspended pursuant to an order of suspension made by the chief of police or any person who is assessed a service fee for excessive false alarms pursuant to this chapter may appeal therefrom to the alarm appeals board by filing with the city clerk a notice of appeal within fifteen days after such denial, order of suspension or notice of assessment of service fee for excessive false alarms. The notice of appeal must set forth the decision and the grounds upon which the permittee deems himself/herself aggrieved thereby. An appellant must pay the sum often dollars to the city clerk as a filing fee at the time of filing said notice of appeal. The city clerk shall report the filing of such appeal to the chief of police. The chief of police shall, within seven days, make a written report to the city clerk setting forth the basis of his action denying the application for a permit or issuing the order of suspension or assessment of a service fee for excessive false alarms. The city clerk shall forward said written report to the alarm appeals board. Following the receipt of the written report, the board shall set the appeal for hearing, which shall be held not less than five working days nor more than fifteen working days thereafter, unless continued for good cause by the order of the board. Page 4 of 6 SECTION 7 Section 5.08.170(A) of Chapter 5,08 of the Bakersfield Municipal Code is hereby amended to read as follows: 5.08.170 Violation of chapter. A. Uponanalarmowner's~fthfalsealarmorthirdfalserobberyalarm(policeresponse only) or third false fire alarm, and upon each subsequent false alarm within any twelve- month period, the owner shall be assessed a service fee in accordance with chapter 3.70 of this code. A seven calendar day grape period shall be permitted upon installation of a new alarm system to allowfor adjustment(s)/modification(s)to ensure properfunction. The service fee shall become due and payable upon deposit in the mail of notice of the amount assessed. If the service fee is not paid within thirty days after mailing of such notice, it shall be deemed delinquent and any permit issued may be suspended. The service fee will be adopted by resolution of the city council and reviewed annually to insure that the police and fire departments are being reimbursed for the lost manpower and expenses caused by false alarms. .......... ooO00oo ........... Page 5 of 6 I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing Ordinance was passed and adopted by the Council of the City of Bakersfield at a regular meeting thereof held onSFP 1 ~ ?DOll by the following vote: AYES: NOES: ABSTAIN: ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBER CARSON, DEMOND, MAGGARD, COUCH, GREEN, SULLIVAN, SALVAGGIO COUNCILMEMBER t'-}O!4~,, COUNCILMEMBER I~ ~ f'~ ~-, COUNCILMEMBER I,J C~ l,J ~' APPROVED: SEP 13 2000 BOB PRI/~,~O/R'~'''' CITY OF BAKERSFIELD APPROVED AS TO FORM: BART J. THILTGEN CITY ATTORNEY By: M~/~HHA('EL G. ALLFORD~''r/~2/ Deputy City Attorney MGA\bsb:laa:alj:lsc August 18, 2000 S:\COUNClL\Ords\alarrn.ord .~nal.wpd Page 6 of 6 AFFIDAVIT OF POSTING DOCUMENTS City Hall, a full, true and correct copy of the following: On:linance No. the Eiakersfield City Council at a meeting held on the 13TM day of and entitled: STATE OF CALIFORNIA) ) SSo County of Kern ) PAMELA A. MCCARTHY, being duly sworn, deposes and says: That she is the duly appointed, acting and qualified City Clerk of the City of Bakersfield; and that on the 14th day of September , 2000 she posted on the Bulletin Board at 3980 , passed by September 2000 AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAKERSFIELD AMENDING CHAPTER 5.08 OF THE BAKERSFIELD MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO ALARM SYSTEMS. Is/PAMELA A. MCCARTHY City Clerk of the City of Bakersfield r---- . DBl~pU~ity C)F'~l/er~'k S:\Document\FORMS~AOP.ORD,wpd September 14, 2000