A. A false alarm shall mean the activation of said alarm by means other than for which the alarm is intended, including, but not limited to, alarm malfunctions, power failure, and/or operator error. If a question arises as to the validity of an alarm, the final determination will be made by the chief of police or the chief’s designee.

B. The chief of police may refuse to allow police response due to repeated failure of equipment or circuitry, multiple false alarms or failure to comply with all the provisions of this chapter. Such notice of discontinuation shall be made in writing to both the agency supplying the alarm and to the person, firm or corporation affected, at least three business days prior to the discontinuation of police response to future alarms at the address.

C. In instances involving more than three false alarms causing police response from any one location within any calendar year, the following service charges shall be levied:

Each subsequent burglary alarm within the calendar year--$50.00;

Each subsequent hold-up alarm within the calendar year--$150.00;

provided, however, that if the chief of police determines that a new system has been installed or adequate repairs have been made to an existing alarm system, relief from such service charges may be granted.

D. The false alarm penalty referred to in subsection C of this section will be billed directly by the city to the alarm customer involved in said false alarm. If the city does not receive payment of the penalty within sixty days from the date of billing, the city may terminate police response to said alarm until the penalty is paid.

E. Any alarm customer may, within ten days of receiving notice of a service charge for a false alarm, appeal said charge to the city manager if the customer feels that said charge was improperly assessed. A decision by the city manager upon said appeal shall be final. (Ord. 1405 §4, 2012; Ord. 1283 §1, 2007; Ord. 648 §4, 1982; Ord. 451 (part), 1977).