[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of
the City of Pottsville as indicated in article histories. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 4-13-2020 by Ord. No. 882]
A.
Findings. The City of Pottsville recognizes that the duties of the
Pottsville Bureau of Fire require the use of specialized emergency
rescue tools and equipment, emergency rescue materials, hazardous
material abatement equipment, and hazardous abatement materials and
fire suppression tools and equipment during their emergency responses.
The City of Pottsville also recognizes that the costs of the maintenance
and replacement of this equipment added to the replacement costs of
damaged or expended materials places an increasing financial burden
on the City of Pottsville and each of the volunteer fire companies
of the City of Pottsville.
B.
City Council intent. It is intended to grant the City of Pottsville
the authority to seek recovery of all reasonable costs of responding
to such emergency incidents, as allowed by applicable law.
A.
This City of Pottsville Bureau of Fire is hereby authorized to recover
reasonable costs for the use of emergency rescue tools, equipment
and materials; hazardous material abatement tools and equipment, hazardous
abatement materials, and fire suppression tools and equipment; and
personnel hours involving any hazardous material, environmental, fire
safety, and/or rescue incident or operation, including vehicular accidents
and fires.
B.
All monies received by the City of Pottsville on behalf of the City
Bureau of Fire shall be submitted to the Board of Fire Trustees of
the City of Pottsville Fire Department to be distributed among the
City's volunteer fire companies, as the Board of Fire Trustees deems
fit.
C.
A rate schedule of reasonable costs for the aforementioned tools,
equipment, materials and hourly rates for personnel shall be set forth
by the Pottsville Bureau of Fire and reviewed/updated from time to
time, and shall only be applied to the recovery of costs arising out
of incidents that occurred subsequent to the setting of the rate schedule.
A copy of the rate schedule shall be on file for review at the business
office of City of Pottsville.
D.
The reasonable costs outlined above may be recovered from any identified
insurance carrier or person or persons, directly by the City or by
an attorney, or through a third-party billing service acting as a
contracted authorized agent for the collection of such costs. In addition
to the reasonable costs as set forth in the above-mentioned rate schedule,
the City, attorney, or the third-party billing service shall hereby
be authorized to collect, in addition to the reasonable costs, reasonable
interest, legal, administrative and any other collection fees associated
for collecting the said costs and fees.
E.
In the event that any insurance carrier or person or persons should
fail to pay any bill or invoice within 30 days of the mailing or delivery
of such notice of charges, the City, attorney or the third-party billing
agency who mailed or delivered the bill or invoice may enforce the
provisions of this article by turning over to a third-party collection
agency or, if deemed appropriate, may been enforced by filing a civil
action at law in a court of competent jurisdiction for the collection
of any amounts due to the City, together with statutory interest,
court costs, collection fees and associated reasonable attorney's
fees.
A.
Any insurance carrier or person shall be liable for the reimbursement
of reasonable costs incurred by the City, as outlined in this article.
Individuals who intentionally set fires and motor vehicle accidents
in which the at-fault drivers are found to be driving under the influence
will be personally liable for all expenses incurred by the City of
Pottsville and/or Pottsville Bureau of Fire.
B.
The City shall not be obligated to pursue collection efforts against
any insurance company or person in the event that the City reasonably
determines that collection efforts will not be successful or that
the costs of collections will exceed the amount due hereunder.
[Added 12-13-2021 by Ord. No. 894]
A.
Intentional false alarms. No permit holder or person shall create
an intentional false alarm.
B.
The City of Pottsville Bureau of Fire shall charge for responding
to incidents resulting from repeated activation of the fire alarm
system due to causes other than smoke or fire. Such causes shall include,
but are not limited to the following:
(1)
Alarm activation for no apparent reason.
(2)
Alarms resulting from failure to properly maintain or repair a fire
alarm system.
(3)
Failure to protect devices from dust, dirt, and/or fumes as a result
of construction, fumigation or similar actions.
(4)
Failure to use proper exhaust or ventilation equipment to prevent
activation of detection devices by smoke, steam, fumes, etc., from
cooking.
(5)
Intentional activation of alarm when no emergency exists.
(6)
Disarming devices which causes the systems to activate an alarm.
C.
Unnecessary incidents/false alarm fee schedule; Half of the fee to
be paid to the City of Pottsville and Half the fee to be paid to the
Pottsville Fire Department.
|
Alarms in a calendar year
|
Fee
|
|---|---|
|
1 to 2
|
No charge
|
|
3 to 5
|
$200
|
|
6 to 8
|
$400
|
|
9 to 11
|
$600
|
|
12 and over
|
$800
|
D.
When a false alarm occurs, the Fire Department, within 10 days from
the date of the false alarm, shall notify the permit holder of the
alarm device from which the false alarm emanated or other person causing
said false alarm that a false alarm charge is due and the amount thereof.
Such notice shall be in writing and mailed to the permit holder or
person causing said false alarm at his last known address. Failure
of the Fire Department to mail notice of assessment of false alarm
charge within 10 days from the occurrence of false alarm shall preclude
the City of Pottsville from assessing a false alarm charge for said
false alarm.
E.
A false alarm charge shall be due and payable to the City of Pottsville,
Office of the Fire Chief, 30 days from the date of the mailing of
the notice of assessment of the charge.
F.
Failure of a person causing a false alarm to pay a false alarm charge
on or before the date due shall constitute a violation of this chapter,
and shall be subject to a $35 late fee.
[Added 12-13-2021 by Ord. No. 895]
A.
Fire personal will inspect multifamily and commercial buildings ensuring
that they meet the minimum requirements of life safety and fire safety
for the City of Pottsville.
B.
Fire safety inspections will be done on an annual basis.
C.
Annual fire safety inspection fees:
(1)
Buildings less than 6,000 square feet: $150.
(2)
Buildings 6,001 to 25,000 square feet: $300.
(3)
Buildings 25,001 to 75,000 square feet: $400.
(4)
Buildings greater than 75,000 square feet: $500.
(5)
Nursing home: $250.
(6)
Child care/development facilities: $100.
(7)
Room boarding house: $100.
