HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD 1983-029 �
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ORDINANCE NO. 83-23
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS PROVID-
ING DEFINITIONS, REQUIRING A PERMIT OF CERTAIN ALARM
USERS; PRO��IDING SERVICE CHARGES FOR FALSE ALARMS;
PROVIDING FOR SUSPENSION OF A PERMIT; REGULATING
ALARM REPORTING AND OPERATION; PROVIDING FOR PRO-
TECTION OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS; PROVIDING FOR A
PENALTY NOT TO EXCEED THE SUM OF TWO HUNDRED
DOLLARS (�200.00); PROVIDING FOR A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE;
AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
3 : CITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Definitions
For the purpose of this chapter, the following terms have the definitions
herein ascribed to them:
(a) GENERAL ALARM SYSTEM means a device or system that
transmits or relays a signal, directly or indirectly, other than by Community
Antenna Television Cable, intended to summon emergency police services of the
City.
(b) CATV ALARM SYSTEM means a device or system that transmits or
relays a signal by Community Antenna Television Cable, directly or indirectly,
intended to summon emergency police services of the City. GENERAL ALARM -
SYSTEM and CATV SYSTEI�1 does not include:
(1) an alarm installed on a vehicle unless such vehicle is permanently
installed at a permanent site;
(2) an alarm designed to alert only the inhabitants of a premises; or
(3) a General Alarm System or CATV Alarm System owned by the
City.
(c) ALARM SITE means a premises or location served by a General
Alarm System or CATV Alarm System.
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(d) BURGLAR/INTRUSION ALARR� NOTIFICATION is a notification
intended to summon the police, which is initiated or triggered manually or by a
stimulus characteristic of unauthorized intrusion.
(e) DIRECTOR means the Chief of Police of the City of Grapevine,
Texas, or his authorized representative.
(f) FALSE BURGLAR/INTRUSION ALARM NOTIFICATION means an
alarm notificiation to the police when the responding police officer finds no
evidence of unauthorized intrusion or attempted unauthorized intrusion.
(g) FALSE ROBBERY ALARM NOTIAFICATION means a robbery
alarm notification to the police when the responding police officer finds no
evidence of a robbery or attempted robbery.
(h) LOCAL ALARM means a General Alarm System or CATV Alarm
System that emits a signal at an alarm site that is audible or visible from the
exterior of a premises.
(i) POLICE "ALERT" ALARM NOTIFICATION means an alarm notifi-
cation which does not differentiate between Burglar/Intrusion and ftobbery hut
is intended to summon the police whenever a real and immediate threat to life
exists.
(j) CITY means the City of Grapevine, Texas.
SECTION 2. Permit Required, Application, Transferability, False State-
ments.
(a) A person commits an offense if he operates or causes to be
. operated a General Alarm System or CATV Alarm System without first obtaining
an alarm permit from the Director. An alarm permit may be obtained for the
user of either a General Alarm System or CATV Alarm System by the installer
of either such alarm system equipment.
(b) Upon receipt of the complete application form, the Director shall
issue a permit unless there is cause to believe the equipment responsible for
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. initiating an alarm wil! not be maintained and operated in accordance with this
Ordinance or the applicant will not comoly with each provision of this
Ordinance.
(c) Each permit application must contain the name, address and
telephone number of the individual or alarm user representative who will be the
permit hoider and be responsible for the proper maintenance and operation o#
the General A�arm System or CAN Alarm System.
; (d} An alarm permit cannot be transferred. However, the individual
designated to respond to an alarm or relay an alarm may be changed. A permit�
holder shall inform the Director of any change that alters information listed on
the original.permit application.
(e) Any false statement or misrepresentation of a material fact made .
by .an.:applicant for :the purpose of .obtaining an .alarm permit ar -renewal, or
while making a change thereto, shall be sufficient cause for refusal to grant, or
suspension of a permit.
SECTION 3. Other Types of Alarms.
(a) . A person shall not install or maintain a._General Aiarm System or
CATV Alarm System except for the purpose of. eliciting responses to Bur- �
glaries/Intrusions, robberies, real and immediate threat to life, fires, water flovr -
or requests for emergency medical assisrtance, unless specifically authorized by
the Director.
(b) From the effective date of this Ordinance, an alarm permit will
- not be granted for Local Alarm systems with the exception of Local Alarm _
systems that have been installed prior to the effective date of this Ordinance.
(�) If innovztions in alarm systems or other types of alarm devices
adversely affect emergency police services of the City, the Director may
promulgate rules and regulations in order to protect the City's emergency poiice
services.
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SECTION 4. Permit Duration, Renewal.
A permit is issued for one year and is automatically renewed each year,
provided no violations of this Ordinance warrant suspension or non-renewal of '
the permit. The Director has prerogative of determining the first expiration
date, however, this initial period shall be no less than one, nor more than two
years from the date of issuance of the permit.
SECTION S. Service Charge.
� ' (a) If within the first 12 month period of the date of issuance of a
permit, and within all successive 1�2 month periods, three false Burglar, Police
Alert or Robbery Alert Notifications are emitted from an alarm site, the
Director shall assess the permit holder in control of that alarm site a fee of
� $b0.00 for -each subsequent false Burglar, Police Alert or Robbery Rtarm
Notifi�ation emitted from the alarm site within said 12 month period_
(b) A permit holder shall pay a fee assessed under �this Section within
30 days after mailing of notice that fee has been assessed. The Director may
suspend or refuse to renew a permit for failure to pay the fee assessed_
(c) . The permit holder will be exempt from any fee charged for a false
alarm notification which is later shown to have been justified or which was due
to a natural or manmade cat�trophy or other situation specifically exempted by
the Director. �
SECTION 6. Reporting of Alarm Signals.
: A permit holder shall not report his alarm signal through a relaying
intermediary that does not meet the requirements of this chapter and any rules
and regulations promulgated by the Director�or is not Iicensed by the State of
Texas or the appropriate agency, board or department thereof_
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SECTIO:v' i. Proper A_larm System Operation and Maintenance
(a) A permit holder shall:
(1) cause an adjustment to made to the sensory mechanism of his
General Alarm System or CATV Alarm System in order to supress false
indications, and
(2) maintain premises containing a General Alarm System ar CATV -
Alarm System in a manner that does not prohibit proper operation of the
alarm system.
(b) No alarm permit holder shall activate the General Alarm System or
CATV Alarm System to send an alarm notification to the police for test
purposes, unless the alarm permit holder first notifies the Director or his
representative, and the alarm company monitoring control center prior to the
testing of the system that the signal is for testing purposes only.
SECTION 8. Reset Required.
A user of a General Alarm System or CATV Alarm System that causes an
alarm notification to be sent DIRECTLY to the City shall adjust or cause the
adjustment of the mechanism so that upon activation, the system will transmit
only one alarm signal and will not transmit another alarm signal without first
being reset in such a manner that it will not automatically resound, unless there
is an outside stimulus characteristic of an unauthorized intrusion. .
SECTION 9. Suspension of Permit, Offense to Operate.
(a) The Director may suspend or refuse to renew a General Alarm
System or CATV Alarm System permit for any violation of this Ordinance.
(b) The Director may suspend or refuse to renew an alarm permit if
a General Alarm System or CATV Alarm System generates six faLse Robbery,
Police Alert or Burglar/Intrusion Alarm Notifications in any 12 month period
described in Section 4.
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� (c) A suspensian may be Ii��ed or permit reinstated upon a sufficient
showing that the conditions which caused the action have been corrected and if
the Director determines that the General Alarm System or CA'N Alarrrz System r
is likely to be maintained and operated in a responsible manner in accocdance
with the provisions of this Ordinance. No fee is requiced to reinstate a
suspended or non-renewal permit.
SECTIbN 10. Appeal From Denial or Suspension of a Permit_
` � (a) If the Director refuses to issue or reinstate a perrrcit, or suspends
a permit, he shall send to the applicant or permit holdec� by certified mail,
written notice of his action and a statement of the right to an appeal. The
appiicant or permit holder may appeal the decision-of the Directoc to the City
Manager by filing with the City .Manager a written request for a .hearing, setting
forth the reasons for the �appeat, within 10 days after receipt of the notice from
the Director. The filing of a request for an appeal hearing with the City
Manager stays any action of the Director in suspending or denying a permit vntil
the City Manager or his designated representative make a final decision. If a
request for an appeal hearing is not made within a IO day period, the action of
the Director is final. -
(b) The City Manager or his representative shall serve as hearing
officer at an appeal hearing and consider evidence by an interested person_ The
formal rules of evidence do not apply at an appeal hearing; the hearing officer
shall make his decision on the basis of a preponderance of the evidence
presented at the hearing. The hearing officer rr�ust render a decision within 30
days after the request for an appeal hearing is filed. The hearing officer shall
affirm, reverse or modify the action of the DirectorT and his decision is final,
unless the applicant or permit holder files a written request wit� the City
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• Council� for a hearing officer. A written request to the City Council stays the
action of the hearing officer in suspending or denying a permit until Lhe City
Councii renders a final decision.
(c) If a request for an appeal hearing with the City Council is filed
within the 10 day period, the City Council shall hear and consider evidence
offered by any interested person. The formal rules of evidence da not apply to
an appeal hearing before the City Council. The City Counci! shall decide the
� appeal on the basis of a preponderance of the evidence pcesented at the hearing.
The City Council shall affirm, reverse or modify the action of the hearing
offieer by a majority vote; failure to reach a majority decision on a motion shall
leave the hearing officer`s decisian unchanged. The result of art appeal hearing
before the City. Council 15 f1J2d1.
, SECTION 11. Indirect Alarm Reporting.
A person who is engaged in the business of relaying aIarm notiftcations to
the City shall: �
(1) send notifications of an alarm to the City by human operator; unless
such notification is by a direct computer terminal; .
(2) keep his business premises in complian�e with State law;
(3) allaw an inspection of his business premises by the Dire�tor or repre-
sentative;
(4) .report alarms only over a special telephone number, or numbers desig- .
nated by the Director; and
(5) send alarm notifications to the City in a manner and form determined
by the Dire�tor. �
SECTION 12. Recorded Message Alarm Notification Prof�ibited_
Following the Effective Date of this Ordinance, no permit will be issued
for the use � of systems using automatic telephone dialing to report an alarm
condition by means of a recorded message. All permits issued prior to passage
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� . of this Ordinance for these type systems will be valid, and the user wiI! be in
compliance for a period of th:ee (3) years after the date of Ordinance passage
providing all other requirements of this Ordinance are camplied with_
SECTION 13. Working Specifications.
CAN Alarm System alarm activation and deactivation panels may be of
a key or keyless configuration. They must be installed on the interior of the
structure. The system shall provide for variable entrance and exit grace times
; ; which shall be incorporated into the unit. •
No CAN Alarm System or General Alarm System shall be so designed a.s
to generate an alarm due to the premises or a particular area of the premises
not being secured at the time of attempted arming. The CAN Alarm System
shall utilize .an internal audible alert signal to notify the user that he has
programmed grace period in which -to deactivate rthe CAZV Alarm .System upon
the users entrance. Iri case of power failure, aIl alarm circuits shall
� automaticaily convert to stand=by battery supply, capable of supplying at Ieast
12 hours of emergency power.
— (a) Duty of Installer
Installers of General Alarm Systems and CAN Alarm Systems shall make -
the user aware that a permit must be obtained from the police
department, at no charge to the user.
(b) The installer shall also instruct the user regarding the operation of
the system, including but not Iimited to the criteria for use of the police
alert button device, stressing it is for the summoning of police only in the
event of a real and immediate threat, to Iife. �
(c) The installer shall not instail an alarm system contrary to the
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provisions of this Ordinance. Alarm Systems that are installed that are
contrary to the provisions of this Ordinance are in violation of this
Ordinance and the installer is subject to the punishment phase of this -
Ordinance for the day the alarm system is installed and each day or
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porYion of a day thereafter ace separate offen5es until the aIarm system
. adheres to the provisions of this Ordinance.
(d) Any keyless configuration activating or deactivating device which
contains only a single button to activate a police alert alarm, shall
provide for a design of such equipment that accidental activation will not
occur and that activation is a deliberate act.
• (e) Delay Diode Required. - _
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CATV Alarm Systems and General Alarm Systems shall include a delay
diode which will be so engineered so as an alarm wilI not be sent due to
momentary breaks in electric�-current caused by lightning_
(f) All electrical equipment used for the installation of CATY Alarm �
Systems -and .General Alarm Systems.shall be Underwriters .Laboratories
Inc., approved.
SECTION 14. Protection of Financiai Institutions.
(a) A financial institution required to have an alarm system pucsuant
_ to the provisions of the Bank Protection Act oi I968 (12 U.S.C., Section I882�
may install, with the permission of the Director, a signal line directly to the � .
Police Department for the purpose of reporting burgiaries and cobberies. If such
an arrangement is made, all other requirements of this Ordinance must� be met
The installation must be accomplished at the institutions expense_
(b) The Director shall have the right, at reasonable times and upon
oral notice, to inspect the alarm system at the alarm site, and require necessary
repairs or improvements. If the Director finds that the alarm system continuaLty
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fails to operate or be operated to his satisfaction, he may terminate the
privilege to have equipment and indicators in the Communications Center of the
Police Department and require prompt removal of same at the expense of the
financial institution.
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(c) The financial institution, at its expense, shall make arrangements
to provide service for the alarm system at the instance of the financia!
institution or Director, on a 24 hour, seven days a week basis. In no event shall
the City become liable for service charges for repairs and rnaintenance of any
such signaling device. '
(d) The financiat institution may remove or have remaved an alarm �
system by giving the City written notice through the Director, whereupon such
institution, at its expense, shall have its equipment and indicators promptly
removed from the Police building. .
(e) The Director has the right to require any change, modernizatiort or
consolidatian of alarm signaling eauipment that he deems advisable_ In no event
shall the City became liable for charges for such changes_
� SECTION 1�. volations, Corporations, Partnerships and Associations_
(a) A person, �orporation, partnership or other association commits an
offense hereunder by commission or omission of any provision of this Orcfinance
_ that imposes upon such person or entity a duty or responsibility_ - _
(b) In addition to prohibiting or requiring -certain conduct on indi-
. viduals, it is the intent of this Ordinance to hold a corporation, partnership or .
other association criminally eesponsible for acts or omissions performed by an
agent acting in behalf of the corporation, partnership or other association and -
within the scope of his employment.
SECTION 16. Punishment.
It shall be unlawful for any person,.:corporation, partnersFup or ather
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association to vioIate any of the provisions of this Ordinance, and any such
person, corporation, partnership or other association which violates a provision
of this Ordinance is guilty of a separate offense for each day or portion of a
day during which the violation is committed, continued or permitted, and each
offense is punishable by a fine not to exceed $20�.
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SECTION 17. All ordinances or parts thereof which are in conflict or
inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance are hereby repealed to the
eatent of the conflict or inconsistency.
SECTION 18. Severability.
If any section, paragraph, subdivision, clause or phrase of this Ordinance
shall be adjudged invalid or held unconstitutional, the same shall not affect the
� , validity of this Ordinance as a whole or any part of any provision thereof other
than the part so decided to be invalid or unconstitutional.
- SECTION 19. Emergency.
The fact that the City of Grapevine, Texas, does not have an Ordinance
regulating General Alarm Systems and CATV Alarm Systems within the City
creates an urgency and an emergency and the preservation of public health,
safety and welfare requires that this Ordinance shall take effect immediately
from and after its passage and the publication of the caption as the law in such
cases provides.
DULY PASSED by the City Counsel of the City of Grapevine, Texas, on
this the � day of ���,�t,� , 19&3. -
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APPROVED:
�`` `J�..+�
Mayor Pro Tem
AZTFST:
�C�(_C�,c� �' CI.1 - !
City Secretary
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
City Attorney
S