City of Watertown, WI Administration

Any person with standing shall be permitted to appeal a decision of the Fire Department to the Public Safety and Welfare Committee when it is claimed that any one or more of the following conditions exist:

The true intent of the Code has been incorrectly interpreted.

The provisions of the Code do not fully apply.

A decision is unreasonable or arbitrary as it applies to alternatives or new materials.

An appeal shall be submitted to the Fire Department in writing within 30 calendar days of notification of violation. The appeal shall outline all of the following:

The Code provision(s) from which relief is sought.

A statement indicating which provisions of Subsection B above apply.

Justifications to the applicability of the provision(s) cited in Subsection B above.

(d)

A requested remedy.

(e)

Justification for the requested remedy stating specifically how the Code is complied with, public safety is secured, and fire fighter safety is secured.

Meetings and procedures.

Meetings of the Public Safety and Welfare Committee shall be held at the call of the chair within 30 calendar days of the filing of a notice of appeal.

All hearings before the Public Safety and Welfare Committee shall be open to the public.

(3)

A quorum shall be required.

(4)

In varying the application of any provision of this Code, or in modifying an order of the Fire Department, a 2/3 vote of the quorum shall be required.

(5)

A decision of the Public Safety and Welfare Committee to modify an order of the Fire Department shall be in writing and shall specify the manner in which such modification is made, the conditions upon which it is made, the reasons therefore, and justification linked to specific code sections.

(6)

A certified copy shall be sent by mail or delivered in person to the appellant.

(7)

The decision of the Public Safety and Welfare Committee shall be final, subject to such remedy as any aggrieved party might have through legal, equity, or other avenues of appeal or petition.

For the purpose of this chapter, a "preventable false alarm" is defined as including activations caused by improper installation or maintenance, erroneous transmissions, work on alarm systems when reasonable steps are not taken to prevent the reporting of an alarm, fire drills or tests without prior notification to the Fire Department of the same, work such as painting or welding in the area of the alarm system resulting in activation, careless use of smoking materials or any other act or omission that would cause a false report to be received by the Fire Department.

Definitions. As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

ALARM DEVICE

Any alarm device or system which transmits its alarm signal from the location of the alarm to the dispatch center, other fire dispatch facility, or central station by any means, except a direct dial alarm device, as defined in this section.

ALARM SYSTEM

A system which is designed to summon or cause a response by the Fire Department, or that gives a signal, either visual, audible, or both, on the exterior portion of the property, but does not leave that structure by wire, radio waves, or other transmission to a control receiving location.

ALARM USER

The person, partnership, corporation, or other entity of any kind that owns or is in control of any building, structure or facility or portion thereof wherein an alarm system is in operation.

AUDIBLE ALARM DEVICE

Any alarm device which produces an audible signal at the premises where it is installed, whether by means of horns, bells, sirens, or other mechanisms, thereby notifying persons within audible range of the signal that fire should be notified.

CENTRAL ALARM STATION

Any facility that is manned at all times by trained operators employed to receive, record, and validate alarm signals and to relay information about validated signals to the dispatch center when appropriate.

DIRECT DIAL ALARM DEVICE

Any device which, when activated, transmits a prerecorded message or other signal by telephone directly to the dispatch center, requesting a fire response.

FALSE ALARM

Any alarm signal originating from an alarm device, alarm system or audible alarm device to which the Fire Department responds, and which results from:

False activation, including reporting a fire where no actual fire has occurred, or reporting a fire alarm where there is no evidence to substantiate, or forgetting to put alarm in test fire mode.

Alarm malfunction, including mechanical failure or electrical failure.

(3)

Alarm triggered by negligence, including overly sensitive settings.

Permit application and standards.

No person shall install, cause, continue, maintain, or permit to exist any alarm device within the City of Watertown without first completing an application supplied by the Clerk's office accompanied by a permit fee as set by the Common Council and provided under separate fee schedule.

[Amended 7-5-2022 by Ord. No. 22-63]

The alarm permit application shall include the following information:

The name, address, and telephone number of the alarm user.

The name, address, and telephone number of a person or firm which can be contacted in the event of an emergency or false alarm and is available upon request of the Fire Department within 1/2 hour of notification of such emergency or false alarm to provide a key to the premises for which the alarm has been activated, for the purpose of inspecting the premises or resetting the alarm system.

Identification of the alarm company.

(d)

Any other information deemed necessary by the Fire Chief for the purpose of providing an appropriate response by the Fire Department.

(e)

Notice of liability for the response fee set forth in § 303-29D(4) and notice that the response fee may be placed as a special charge on the alarm user's tax roll pursuant to § 66.0627, Wis. Stats., if not paid.

(f)

Notice that, in the event that the Fire Department responds to an alarm at the premises covered by the alarm system, and neither the permit holder nor an authorized agent is present, the permit holder consents to the entry into the premises, if necessary, to ascertain the cause of the alarm.

False alarms.

No person owning, using, or possessing an alarm system shall cause or permit the activation of a false alarm.

No person shall intentionally cause the activation of an alarm system, knowing that no emergency exists.

(3)

Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the discretion of the Fire Department to take into account mitigating circumstances in enforcing this chapter.

(4)

Response fees for false alarms.

In the instance of a first false alarm response within any twelve-month period, the City of Watertown Fire Department shall cause to be issued a warning setting forth description of the violation of this section with a copy of the ordinance to the owner as well as any occupant, lessee or legal possessor of the address summoning a response.

In the instance of any second false alarm response within any twelve-month period, the City of Watertown Fire Department shall cause to be issued a final warning setting forth description of the violation of this section with a copy of the ordinance to the owner as well as any occupant, lessee or legal possessor of the address summoning a response.

In the instance of any third or subsequent false alarm response within any twelve-month period, the City of Watertown Fire Department shall cause to be issued to an alarm user a due and payable invoice for response costs in the minimum sum as set by the Common Council and provided under separate fee schedule, the date payment is due, the right of the alarm user to a hearing before the Fire Chief if a request therefor is made before the date payment is due, and a warning that any unpaid response fee will be allocated to the alarm user's property tax roll as a special charge pursuant to § 66.0627, Wis. Stats., at the alarm user's last known address with copy to the owner, at the owner's last known address, as well as any occupant, lessee or legal possessor of the address summoning a response. The City of Watertown Fire Department shall collect such additional amounts at the same rate in fifteen-minute increments if the time expended by the Fire Department exceeds 1/2 hour.

(d)

In the instance of any fourth or subsequent false alarm response within any twelve-month period, the City of Watertown Fire Department shall cause to be issued to an alarm user a due and payable invoice for response costs in the minimum sum as set by the Common Council and provided under separate fee schedule, the date payment is due, the right of the alarm user to a hearing before the Fire Chief if a request therefor is made before the date payment is due, and a warning that any unpaid response fee will be allocated to the alarm user's property tax roll as a special charge pursuant to § 66.0627, Wis. Stats., at the alarm user's last known address with copy to the owner, at the owner's last known address as well as any occupant, lessee or legal possessor of the address summoning a response. The City of Watertown Fire Department shall collect such additional amounts at the same rate in fifteen-minute increments if the time expended by the Fire Department exceeds 1/2 hour.

(e)

In the instance of any fifth or subsequent false alarm response within any twelve-month period, the City of Watertown Fire Department shall cause to be issued to an alarm user a due and payable invoice for response costs in the minimum sum as set by the Common Council and provided under separate fee schedule, the date payment is due, the right of the alarm user to a hearing before the Fire Chief if a request therefor is made before the date payment is due, and a warning that any unpaid response fee will be allocated to the alarm user's property tax roll as a special charge pursuant to § 66.0627, Wis. Stats., at the alarm user's last known address with copy to the owner, at the owner's last known address, as well as any occupant, lessee or legal possessor of the address summoning a response. The City of Watertown Fire Department shall collect such additional amounts at the same rate in fifteen-minute increments if the time expended by the Fire Department exceeds 1/2 hour.

(5)

Periodic alarm testing will not result in a response fee, as long as prior notification with the Fire Department dispatch center was made, along with notification once the testing is completed.

(6)

Storm-related false alarms which can be reasonably verified shall be exempt from any response fees.

Collection of fees.

For the purposes of this section, an alarm user who is lessee, occupant, or tenant of the premises from which the false alarm originated shall be deemed agent of the owner thereof.