5/14/1991 - Laserfiche WebLink

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M Commissioner Bowman had a problem with Section 301.25 which sets the service fees at $25.00 for the first false alarm in excess of 3 false alarms; $50.00 for the second; and $100 for the third. Commissioner Bowman did not believe you can even pull a fire engine out of the station for $25 and suggested that these amounts be changed to $100, $125 and $150. Doug Wright, Director of Emergency Services, advised that this is patterned the same as the City of Vero Beach policy, and those are the amounts they charge. For the Board's information, he reported that even with the $25 charge, we have had some major penalties against the hospitals during their recent renovations. Commissioner Scurlock felt we could adopt the proposed ordinance and then modify it later when we see how it goes. Commissioner Bowman wished to know how many false alarms we average in a month. Fire Chief Otis Humanes noted that it varies but felt we have possibly 15/20 a month. This average is down quite a bit, however, since the present ordinance went into effect. The fees do escalate, and we do collect quite a bit of money from some agencies; in fact, we have collected as much as $1,000 and more. Chief Humanes advised that they work with the people and do check to see whether it is a true malfunction - this charge is only aimed at the negl-Agent a-larm system owners that are out there. The situation has been greatly improved; when this first started, we were running about 400-500 alarms a year, and we have cut that in half. Commissioner Eggert commented that if these alarms are due to truly negligent people, she could support Commissioner Bowman's recommendations very easily. Chief Humanes believed the ones we are having now are true malfunctions. He believed $100 gets their attention. Director Wright noted that they will support and charge whatever the Commission specifies, and Commissioner Scurlock stated that he can support raising the fees as long as we are making a diligent effort to see that the violators are trying to correct the problem. Chairman Bird felt that he was hearing that the system seems to be working pretty effectively with what we are charging now; so, why gouge the people any more? Other Board members indicated the reason for higher charges is that the cost of responding to such calls is not covered by the present charges and why should the other taxpayers have to make up for this. Commissioner Wheeler suggested new charges be set at $100 - $200 and $300. 25 BOOK 3 F,,1"E _.SKU