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21020 1 ORDINANCE NO. 21,020 2 3 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 3 OF THE LITTLE ROCK, 4 ARKANSAS REVISED CODE OF ORDINANCES TO ADD CERTAIN 5 CRITERIA FOR IMPROVING THE PROCESSING OF FALSE ALARMS; 6 TO ELIMINATE FINES FOR CERTAIN ALARM CANCELLATIONS; TO 7 IMPOSE A FEE FOR LATE PAYMENTS; TO CLARIFY CERTAIN 8 DEFINITIONS; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. 9 10 WHEREAS, the Little Rock Board of Directors passed the False Alarm Reduction Ordinance 11 (Ordinance No. 19,331)on June 7,2005,to reduce false alarms; and, 12 WHEREAS,the City's 911 answering system receives approximately 250,000 calls per year,of which 13 34,500 are from alarms; and, 14 WHEREAS,of these 34,500 calls from alarm systems,over 90%are false alarms; and, 15 WHEREAS, sending an emergency response to a false alarm decreases the availability of the 16 emergency services personnel to respond to true emergencies,thereby decreasing public safety; and, 17 WHEREAS, it is desirable to clarify certain definitions,remove inconsistencies, impose a fee for late 18 payments, and eliminate fees for cancelled alarms that are cancelled before law enforcement arrives at the 19 site that was the subject of the alarm; 20 NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CITY 21 OF LITTLE ROCK,ARKANSAS: 22 Section 1. The following defmitions in the Code of Ordinances, Chapter 3, Article II, Section 3-13, 23 are deleted and replaced with the following language: 24 Conversion means the transaction or process by which one alarm installation company or 25 monitoring company begins the servicing or monitoring, or both, of a previously 26 unmonitored alarm system or an alarm system previously serviced or monitored, or both, 27 by another alarm company. 28 False alarm means an alarm dispatch request to an emergency service agency to summon 29 a law enforcement agency,fire dispatch or medical emergency,or any combination thereof, 30 to a nonemergency situation. 31 Grace period means a specified length of time from the date of installation, or system 32 conversion or takeover during which no occurrence, fine or penalty is assessed for false 33 alarms. IPage 1 of.3] 1 Section 2. The Code of Ordinances, Chapter 3, Article II, Section 3-14(d)(7)a is hereby amended to 2 read as follows: 3. a. Operating instructions for the alarm system, including guidelines on how to avoid false 4 alarms,have been read and agreed upon by the alarm user. 5 Section 3. The Code of Ordinances, Chapter 3, Article II, Section 3-19(c) is hereby deleted in its 6 entirety. 7 Section 4.The Code of Ordinances, Chapter 3,Article II, Section 3-20 is hereby amended by adding a 8 new subsection(i): 9 (i) A Twenty-Five Dollar ($25.00) late fee will be assessed for each false alarm invoice not 10 paid within thirty(30)days of the due date stated on the invoice notice. 11 Section 5. The Code of Ordinances, Chapter 3, Article II, Section 3-21(d) is hereby deleted and 12 replaced with language to read as follows: 13 (d) If an alarm cancellation occurs prior to emergency services arriving at the site that was the 14 subject of the alarm,the call is not a false alarm for the purpose of fees for service and no 15 fee will be assessed. 16 Section 6. The Code of Ordinances, Chapter 3, Article II, Section 3-22(f)(1) is hereby deleted and 17 replaced with language to read as follows: 18 (1) The installation company or the monitoring company may file,a written request by paying 19 an appeal.fee of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) and setting forth the reasons for the appeal 20 within fifteen(15)business days after the date of notification of the decision from the alarm 21 administrator. Appeal fees will be returned to the appealing company if the appeal is 22 upheld. 23 Section 7.The Code of Ordinances,Chapter 3,Article II, Section 3-25 is hereby deleted in its entirety. 24 Section 8. Severability. In the event that any title, section, paragraph, item, sentence, clause, phrase, 25 or word of this ordinance is declared or adjudged to be invalid or unconstitutional, such declaration or 26 adjudication shall not affect the remaining portions of the ordinance which shall remain in full force and 27 effect as if the portion so declared or adjudged invalid or unconstitutional were not originally a part of the 28 ordinance. 29 Section 9. Repealer. All ordinances, resolutions, bylaws, and other matters inconsistent with this 30 ordinance are hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency. 31 PASSED: April 7,2015 32 ATTE , APPROVE : 33 JiO 35 Sus• :ng ,City Clerk Mark Stodola I [Page 2 of 3] 1 APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM: 2 �2�s�'�1�+-„ 3 4 Thomas M. Carpenter, City Attorn 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10 // 11 // 12 // 13 // 14 // 15 // 16 // 17 // 18 // 19 // 20 // 21 // 22 // 23 // 24 // 25 // 26 // 27 // 28 // 29 // 30 // 31 // 32 // 33 // 34 // 35 // [Page 3 of 3]