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Home My WebLink About21293 1 ORDINANCE NO. 21,293 2 3 AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 3, ARTICLE II OF THE 4 LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS REVISED CODE OF ORDINANCES, 5 FALSE ALARMS, TO ADD CERTAIN CRITERIA FOR IMPROVING 6 THE PROCESSING OF FALSE ALARMS; TO REDUCE FINES FOR 7 NON-REGISTRATION; TO CLARIFY RESPONSIBILITY OF 8 REGISTRATION; TO EXTEND THE TIME TO REGISTER ALARM 9 SYSTEMS AND TO EXTEND TIME TO APPEAL A FALSE ALARM; 10 AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. 11 12 WHEREAS, the Little Rock Board of Directors passed the False Alarm Reduction Ordinance 13 (Ordinance No. 19,331)on June 7,2005,to reduce false alarms; and, 14 WHEREAS, the City's 911 Answering System receives approximately 250,000 calls per year, of 15 which 34,500 are from alarms; and, 16 WHEREAS, of these 34,500 calls from alarm systems, over 90% are false alarms; and, 17 WHEREAS, sending an emergency response to a false alarm decreases the availability of the 18 emergency services personnel to respond to true emergencies,thereby decreasing public safety; and, 19 WHEREAS, it is desirable to improve the processing of false alarms, reduce fines for non- 20 registration, clarify responsibility for registration, extend the time to register, and extend the time to 21 appeal a violation. 22 NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CITY 23 OF LITTLE ROCK,ARKANSAS: 24 Section 1. Little Rock, Ark., Rev. Code § 3-14 is hereby amended to read as follows: 25 (a) No alarm user shall operate, or cause to be operated, an alarm system at its alarm site without 26 a valid alarm permit. A separate alarm permit is required for each alarm site. 27 (b) At the time of an alarm system installation, monitoring service agreement or alarm system 28 takeover, the alarm monitoring company shall register the alarm site online with the City's 29 alarm administrator and obtain a permit number. The alarm permit shall be effective until the 30 registered alarm user no longer occupies the site. All local alarm system applications shall be 31 submitted by the alarm user to the City's alarm administer at the time of the alarm system 32 installation or alarm system takeover. The alarm permit shall be effective until the registered 33 alarm user no longer occupies the site. Failure of an alarm user to pay a previous civil 34 penalty shall not prohibit the alarm user from being registered. IPage 1 of 41 1 (c) Each alarm permit application must include the following information: 2 (1) The name, complete current address, (including apartment or suite number), and 3 telephone numbers of the person who will be the permit holder and be responsible for 4 the proper maintenance and operation of the alarm system; 5 (2) The classification of the alarm site (e.g. single-family residential, apartment, 6 commercial, warehouse, government office,etc.); 7 (3) Mailing address, if different from the address of the alarm site; 8 (4) The date of installation, conversion or takeover of the alarm system, whichever is 9 applicable; 10 (5) The name, address, and telephone number of the alarm installation company or 11 companies performing the alarm system installation, conversion, or takeover and of 12 the alarm installation company responsible for providing repair service to the alarm 13 system; 14 (6) The name, address, and telephone number of the monitoring company, (if 15 applicable), if different from the alarm installation company,and 16 (7) Signed certification from the alarm user stating that: 17 (a) Operating instructions for the alarm system, including guidelines on how to 18 avoid false alarms, have been read and agreed upon by the alarm user; 19 (b) The alarm installation company has trained the applicant in proper use of the 20 alarm system, including instructions on how to avoid false alarms; and 21 (c) The alarm user is aware of the fact that an emergency service response may 22 be influenced by factors including, but not limited to, the availability of 23 emergency service units, priority of calls, weather conditions, traffic 24 conditions, emergency conditions and staffing levels. 25 (8) The name, address and telephone number of the alarm monitoring company 26 previously utilized, if applicable. 27 (d) Any false statement of a material fact made by an applicant for the purpose of obtaining an 28 alarm permit shall be sufficient cause for imposition of a civil penalty prior to the issuance of 29 a permit by the City's alarm administrator. 30 (e) An alarm permit cannot be transferred to another person or alarm site. An alarm user shall 31 inform the alarm installation or alarm monitoring company, in the case of a monitored alarm 32 system, or the City's alarm administrator, in the case of a non-monitored alarm system, of 33 any change that alters any of the information listed on the alarm permit application within (5) 34 business days of such change. 35 Section 2. Little Rock, Ark., Rev. Code § 3-15 is hereby amended to a new section (g)as follows: 'Page 2of41 1 (g) An alarm user shall register a local alarm system, which is not monitored, with the City's 2 alarm administrator. 3 Section 3. Little Rock, Ark., Rev. Code § 3-16(a)(1) is hereby amended to read as follows: 4 (a) An alarm installation company shall: 5 (1) In the case of local alarm systems, which are not monitored, distribute the required 6 alarm permit to each alarm user. 7 Section 4. Little Rock, Ark., Rev. Code § 3-17(a) is hereby amended to a new subsection (12) as 8 follows: 9 (a) A monitoring company shall; 10 (12) Register the required alarm permit of each alarm user at the time of new service or 11 alarm system conversion or takeover. 12 Section 5. Little Rock, Ark., Rev.Code § 3-20(c) is hereby amended to read as follows: 13 (c) In addition, any person operating a non-permitted alarm system will be subject to a civil 14 penalty of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00), in addition to any other fines. In addition, the 15 alarm installation and/or alarm monitoring company will each be subject to a civil penalty of 16 Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00) for each false alarm in addition to any other civil 17 penalties. The alarm administrator may waive this additional civil penalty for a non-permitted 18 system if the alarm user submits an application for alarm registration within thirty (30) days 19 after of notification of such violation. 20 Section 6. Little Rock, Ark., Rev. Code § 3-22(b), (c)(1) and (d) are hereby amended to read as 21 follows: 22 (b) The alarm user, alarm installation company, or monitoring company, or all of them, may 23 appeal an assessment of a civil penalty to the alarm administrator by setting forth in writing 24 the reasons for the appeal within thirty (30) days after receipt of the civil penalty or notice of 25 revocation. 26 (c) The alarm user may appeal the decision of the alarm administrator to the false alarm appeals 27 panel as follows: 28 (1) The alarm user may file a written request for a review by paying an appeal fee of 29 Twenty-Five Dollars ($25.00) and setting forth the reasons for the appeal within 30 thirty (30) days after the date of notification of the decision of the alarm 31 administrator. Appeal fees will be returned to the appealing alarm user if the appeal 32 is upheld. 33 (d) Filing of a request for appeal shall stay the action by the alarm administrator requiring 34 payment of a civil penalty, until the false alarm appeals panel has completed its review. If a 35 request for appeal is not made within the thirty (30)-day period, the action of the alarm 'Page 3 of 41 1 administrator is final. 2 Section 7. Severability. In the event that any title, section, paragraph, item, sentence, clause, phrase, 3 or word of this ordinance is declared or adjudged to be invalid or unconstitutional, such declaration or 4 adjudication shall not affect the remaining portions of the ordinance which shall remain in full force and 5 effect as if the portion so declared or adjudged invalid or unconstitutional were not originally a part of the 6 ordinance. 7 Section 8. Repealer. All ordinances, resolutions, bylaws, and other matters inconsistent with this 8 ordinance are hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency. 9 PASSED: September 6,2016 10 • .g3: APPROVED: 11 Vikif 12 13 '. tlA a •ley,City Clerk Mark Stodola,Mayor 14 A'P' i • .D AS TO LEGAL FORM: 15 �/ 16 UI/1 - (41 AA/,c,, --14"--„ 17 Thomas M. Carpenter,City Attory 18 // off 19 // 20 // 21 // 22 // 23 // 24 // 25 // 26 // 27 // 28 // 29 // 30 // 31 // 32 // 33 // 34 // 35 // [Page 4 of 41