SUBJECT/RECOMMENDATION:
Title
Amend the Clearwater Code of Ordinances, Section 5.44, relating to security alarm systems and pass Ordinance 9104-18 on first reading.
Body
SUMMARY:
The Clearwater Police Department supports over 20,000 resident and business alarm permit holders. The process to register permits, issue decals, and manage payments for these residents and business owners has been a manual process for nearly twenty years.
The Clearwater Police Department recently engaged PM AM Corporation to create a web-based portal designed to manage alarm permits for residents and business owners. This online portal will allow residents and business owners to:
• Create a secure account with a Username and Password;
• Register a new alarm permit (previously registered alarm users will keep their original permit number);
• Update the account holder’s alarm permit profile (such as: mailing address, alarm company name, emergency contacts, etc.);
• Make online payments for current or outstanding charges (a $5.00 convenience fee will apply);
• Access the City of Clearwater Alarm Ordinance; and
• Access tips and resources to reduce false alarm incidents.
Modernizing this process also requires updating the City’s Alarm Ordinance. A summary of the changes includes:
• Removal of the requirements relating to ‘Florida Power Corporation’ specifically, as it relates to electricity. The intent is to ensure the alarm system is connected to electricity, without stating a specific electricity company;
• Add the ability for a user to apply for an alarm permit electronically;
• Discontinue issuance of permit decals;
• Increase the “days to pay” false alarm service charge from 15 days to 30 days;
• Allows the City Manager to delegate appeals to an appropriate designee;
• Create an escalating service charge for repeated false alarms at the same location based upon the below schedule:
New Alarm Service Charge Schedule
With this change, the first activation within a permit year of an alarm user’s unpermitted security alarm system, which was determined by the responding police officer to have been a false alarm, shall result in a $50.00 service charge, unless the alarm user registers their security alarm system pursuant to Sec. 5.61 within 30 days of the receipt of the notice of service charge. An alarm user who obtains a permit for their unpermitted security alarm system and receives a courtesy warning instead of a service charge will still have accumulated one false alarm in that permit year for purposes of the escalating service charge schedule.
APPROPRIATION CODE AND AMOUNT:
Revenue received from service charges related to false alarms will be credited to 0010-00000-354106-000 - Police False Alarm Fee