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HomeMy WebLinkAboutORDINANCE - 1514 - 3/23/1982 - ALARM SYSTEMS,AMENDEDORDINANCE NO. 1514 All ORDINANCE AZIENDING CHAPTER 18 LICENSES AND PER141TS OF THE MUNICIPAL CODE OF THE VILLAGE OF ELK GROVE VILLAGE BY ADDING THERETO A 14EW ARTICLE ENTITLED ALARM SYSTE14S WHEREAS, the Police Department of the Village of Elk Grove Village has experienced a high incidence of false alarms within the Village; and WHEREAS, the incidence of false alarms and the total effect thereof seriously jeopardizes the ability of the Police Department in their endeavor to prevent crime and provide an effective police service to the residents of the Village of Elk Grove Village; and WHEREAS, increasing responses to false alarms deplete the manpower of the Department and often times lead to ineffective utilization of police equipment; and WHEREAS, from a review of the false alarms that are experienced within the Village, it has become apparent the the vast majority of same are often times attributable to factors such as negligence, carelessness, or indifference; and WHEREAS, it is within the jurisdiction of the President and Board of Trustees of the Village to rectify such causes of false alarms and enhance the ability of the Police Depart- ment to continue to render the highest quality of police service to all of the residents of the Village; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the President and Hoard of Trustees of the Village of Elk Grove Village, Counties of Cook and DuPage, Illinois as follows: Section 1: That Article LI, of Chapter 18, which article is presently entitled - Enforcement Provisions -, be amended by setting forth therein a new Article LI entitled - Alarm Systems -, the text of which is set forth in Exhibit A attached hereto and by this reference incorporated herein. Section 2: That the present Article LI, Enforcement Provisions, shall be renumbered to Article LVI of Chapter 18, the provisions thereof to remain in full force and effect. Section 3: That the Village Clerk is hereby authorized to publish this Ordinance in pamphlet form. Section 4: That any person, firm or corporation who violates any of the provisions of this Ordinance shall be subject to a fine of not less than Twenty-five ($25.00) Dollars nor more than rive Hundred ($500.00) Dollars and a separate offense shall be deemed committed on each day during or on which a violation occurs or continues to exist. Section 5: That this Ordinance shall be in full force after its passage, approval, and publication according to law and be effective as of June 1, 1982. VOTES: AYES: 6 DAYS: 0 Charles J. Zettek Village President ATTEST. Fay M. Bishop Village Clerk PASSED this 23rd day of March , 1982. APPRWED this 23rd day of March , 1982. PUBLISHED this 31st day of March 1982, in pamphlet form in the Elk Grove Daily Herald. - 2 - E X H I B I T A ARTICLE LI ALARM SYSTEMS 18.5101. Definitions - For purposes of this Article, the words and terms used shall have the following meanings: a) "Alarm Business" means the business by any individual, partnership, corporation or other entity of selling, leasing, maintaining, servicing, repairing, altering, replacing, moving or installing any alarm system or causing to be sold, leased, maintained, serviced, repaired, altered, replaced, moved or installed any alarm system in or on any building, structure or facility. b) "Alarm System" means any assembly of equipment, mechanical or electrical, arranged to signal the occurrence of any illegal entry or other activity requiring urgent attention and to which police are expected to respond. c) "Alarm User" means the person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company or organization of any kind in control of premises wherein an alarm system is maintained. d) "Automatic Telephone Alarm" means a telephone device or telephone attachment which automatically relays a prerecorded message to report a robbery, burglary or fire emergency by means of a telephone line which terminates upon a central switchboard. e) "False Alarm" means an alarm signal illiciting a response by the Police wherein an emergency situation does not, in fact exist, but does not include an alarm caused by violent conditions of nature, power outages or other extraordinary circumstances not reasonably subject to control by the alarm business operator or alarm user. - 1 - 18.5102. Alarm Business License/Fee/Application. a) License Required: It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to be engaged in an Alarm Business as defined herein without first having obtained a license therefor from the Village of Elk Grove Village. The fee for such license shall be Twenty-five ($25.00) Dollars per year. b) Application for License: An application for an Alarm Business License shall be filed with the Village Clerk and shall contain the following information: 1. Name and address of the applicant, 2. A list of the various alarm systems the applicant proposes to install within the Village and an instruction manual or brochure detailing the mechanical procedure or operations of each such system. 3. A list of the names, addresses and telephone numbers of such persons in the employ of the applicant authorized to deactivate an alarm installed by the applicant when the alarm user cannot be reached. Applicants with a twenty-four (24) hour telephone service need only provide the applicable telephone number. 4. Such other information deemed pertinent or relevant by the Chief of Police or his designated agent. 18.5103. Alarm User License Fee/Application. a) License Required: It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to lease, use, own an alarm system or be in control of premises wherein an alarm system is operated or maintained without first having obtained a license therefor from the Village of Elk Grove Village. The fee for an Alarm User License shall be Twenty-five ($25.00) Dollars per year. Occupants in single family or - 2 - multi -family residential units who own or control alarm systems shall not be deemed to be alarm users for the purpose of this Ordinance and shall be exempt from the provisions hereof. b) Application for License: An application for an Alarm User License shall be filed with the Village Clerk and shall contain the following information: 1. Name and address of the applicant, 2. Name and address of the premises where the alarm system is located, 3. A statement listing the names, addresses and telephone numbers of at least three (3) persons responsible for the premises where the alarm system is located and who should be contacted to deactivate the alarm system, 4. A statement listing the name, address and telephone number of the person, firm or corporation authorized to deactivate the alarm when no person described in (c) can be reached and 5. The name, address and telephone number of the person, firm or corporation which installed the alarm system and of the person, firm or corporation responsible for the maintenance and repair of the alarm system. 18.5104. Issuance of Licenses. The Village Clerk shall issue a license for alarm businesses and alarm users within fifteen (15) days after a completed application is filed. Prior to the issuance of such licenses, the Chief of Police may cause such inspection of the applicant, the premises and the individual alarm systems as is deemed necessary. 18.5105. Term of License. All licenses shall commence on the first day of January and expire on the 31st day of December of each year. When an applicant requests a license after the expiration of part of the current license year, the license fee shall be prorated by quarters for each quarter or fractior thereof during which the licensed activity will be conducted. - 3 - 18.5106. Updating Alarm System Application. It shall be unlawful for any alarm system Licensee to fail or refuse to amend its alarm system license application within ten (10) days after any of the information required and contained therein is or becomes outdated and inaccurate. 18.5107. Alarm System Posting Requirements. No alarm system shall be installed or maintained unless the Licensee of such alarm system shall post or cause to be posted at or near the location where such alarm system can be deactivated, a notice containing the name, address and telephone number of the person, firm or corporation responsible for the main- tenance and repair of such alarm system. 18.5108. Alarm Svstem Deactivation ReQuirements. It shall be unlawful for any Licensee to cause or permit an alarm system for which a license has been issued pursuant to this Article to permit or cause such alarm system to sound in excess of one hour. The obligation imposed herein shall be joint and severable upon the alarm business Licensee and the Alarm User Licensee. 18.5109. Automatic Telephone Alarm Prohibited. Any auto- matic telephone alarm installed and operative on the effective date of this Article, shall be and is hereby declared to be, a nuisance. No person shall install, or cause to be installed, or maintain any automatic telephone alarm in the Village. Any such automatic telephone alarm shall be removed by the owner thereofwithin thirty (30) days following the effective date of this Article. Automatic telephone alarms not so removed shall be subject to abatement as a nuisance. 18.5110. False Alarms/Additional Charges/License Revocations. a) Any alarm system which has five (5) or more false alarms within a licensed year shall subject the alarm user Licensee of said system to an addi- tional charge of Fifty ($50.00) Dollars for each false alarm response, which charge shall be paid to the Village within thirty (30) days after the response occurs for within the charge is made. - 4 - b) Notice: The Chief of Police or his designated agent shall notify the alarm user, in writing, of each instance wherein the Police have recorded a false alarm, and in the case of the fourth (4th) recorded false alarm, in any one licensed year, shall further notify the Licensee that further false alarms will result in the imposition of additional charges as set forth herein. Each Licensee shall have the opportunity within ten (10) days after the receipt of such notice to submit a report to or meet with the Chief of Police or his designated agent for the purpose of showing cause as to whether circumstances exist so as warrant a voiding of the false alarm recordation. The opinion of the Chief of Police or his designated agent as to whether a false alarm occurred shall be final. c) License Revocation: 1. Any alarm system which has ten (10) or more false alarms within a licensed year shall be subject to license revocation as provided herein. 2. If the Police Department records show ten (10) or more false alarms within a licensed year for any alarm system: i. The Chief of Police or his designated agent shall notify the alarm user and the alarm business providing service or inspection to the user by certified mail of such fact and direct that the user submit a report to the Department within fifteen (15) days of receipt of the notice describing actions taken or to be taken to discovez and eliminate the cause of the false alarms. ii. If the alarm user submits a report as directed, the Chief of Police shall determine if the action taken or to be taken will sub- stantially reduce the likelihood of false alarms; if he determines that the action will substantially reduce the likelihood of false alarms, he shall notify the alarm user, in writing, that his license will not be revoked at that time and that if one more false alarm occurs within the licensed year, the user's license will be revoked. iii. If no report is submitted, or if the Chief of Police determines that the action taken or to be taken will not substantially reduce the likelihood of false alarms, the Chief shall give notice by certified mail to 5 - the user that the license will be revoked without further notice, if the user does not file within ten (10) days a written request for a hearing. iv. If a hearing is requested, written notice of the time and place of the hearing shall be served on the user by the Chief of Police or his designated agent by certified mail at least ten (10) days prior to the date set for the hearing, which date shall not be more than twenty-one (21) nor less than ten (10) days after the filing of the request for the hearing. V. The hearing shall be before a False Alarm Hearing Board established by the President and Board of Trustees of the Village, and the Chief of Police and the alarm user shall have the right to present written and oral evidence, subject to the right of cross-examination. If the Hearing Board determines that ten (10) or more false alarms have occurred, and that the user has not taken action which substantially reduces the likelihood of false alarms, the Hearing Board shall issue written findings to that effect and an order revoking the user's license. vi. An alarm user whose license has been revoked may apply for a revoked user's license subject to the terms hereof. The Chief of Police may impose reasonable restrictions and conditions upon the user, before issuing a revoked user's license, which restrictions and conditions shall be written on the license. A revoked user's license shall be issued for the remainder of the regular licensing year and the fee for such revoked user's license shall be Two Hundred Fifty ($250.00) Dollars. In addition to the license.fee, the holder of a revoked user's license shall be assessedasanadditional charge of One Hundred ($100.00) Dollars for each false alarm which occurs during the remainder of the license year. d. Revocation of Alarm Business Licensee/Hearing/Fines: Continuing incidents of false alarms involving alarm systems installed or maintained by any one Alarm Business Licensee or other violations of this Ordinance, may cause the License issued hereunder to be revoked. If, in the opinion of the Chief of Police or his designated agent, sufficient cause exists to warrant the revocation of such License, notice of same shall be given by certified mail to the Licensee which notice shall set forth the reasons for the proposed revocation proceeding and provide the Licensee with an opportunity to meet with the Chief of Police. If the Licensee fails to contact the Chief of Police or his designated agent within ten (10) days after receipt of such notice, - 6 - or if the Licensee fails to take such steps as are deemed necessary to reduce the likelihood of re -occurring false alarms or violations of this Ordinance, the Chief of Police may order said License to be revoked subject to a hearing before the False Alarm Hearing Board, at which time the Chief of Police and the Licensee may present evidence and testimony concerning the issue of license revocation. After hearing all of the evidence and testimony presented, the False Alarm Hearing Board is hereby authorized to invoke the following orders or sanctions: 1. Deny the revocation request of the Chief of Police; or 2. Enter an order revoking the Alarm Business License; or 3. Place the Licensee on a period of probation for such designated period of time as is deemed appropriate. In the event of an order of probation, the False Alarm Hearing Board is further authorized to impose a fine on the Licensee in such amount as is deemed appropriate but in no event to exceed Five Hundred ($500.00) Dollars. The determination of the Hearing Board as to the above sanctions and orders shall be final. 18.5111. Grace Period for False Alarms: Whenever a new alarm system is installed, the Licensee shall be given sixty (60) days from the date of the installation of such alarm system within which no alarm from the premises shall be deemed to be a false alarm. 18.5112. Time for Compliance. Any person, firm or corporation with an existing alarm system shall have thirty (30) days after the effective date of this Article to file an application for an alarm system license. 18.5113. Severability Clause. If any provision or part thereof of this Article is declared invalid and of no further force and effect, the other provisions of this Article shall remain in full force and effect. - 7 - 18.5114. Penalties. In addition to any fees or fines established herein, any person, firm or corporation convicted of a violation of any of the provisions of this Article shall be fined not less than Twenty-five ($25.00) Dollars nor more than Five Hundred ($500.00) Dollars for each offense and each day such violation continues shall be considered a separate offense.