[HISTORY: Adopted by the Common Council of the City of Egg Harbor
City as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 6-11-1992 by Ord. No. 5-1992]
Any central alarm monitoring station which monitors alarm equipment
located in the City of Egg Harbor City must register with the City of Egg
Harbor City and thereafter report each alarm connected to it which originates
from the City of Egg Harbor City. A central alarm monitoring station must
call in all alarms reported that are registered in the City of Egg Harbor
City. Reporting of alarms must include the alarm registration number and address
of the property transmitting the alarm.
All owners or lessees must equip audible alarms with a timing device
which will limit the period during which the alarm will sound to 15 minutes.
All owners or lessees of alarm equipment, using the services of a central alarm monitoring station, must register with the City of Egg Harbor City prior to the installation of the alarm system. Owners or lessees of existing alarm systems, using the services of a central alarm monitoring station, must register with the City of Egg Harbor City within 60 days from the effective date of this article. There shall be no fee charged for registration of alarm systems. Any owner or lessee who fails to register within the prescribed period shall disconnect the alarm system and shall discontinue using the services of any central alarm monitoring station. Central alarm monitoring stations must also register with the City of Egg Harbor City. (Registration will permit the City of Egg Harbor City to contact the owner, lessee or their representatives in the event of an emergency.) Owners or lessees of alarm equipment, not using the services of a central alarm monitoring station, must comply with §§ 85-2, 85-4, 85-10, 85-11, 85-12 and 85-13 of this article.
Alarm equipment which utilizes voice recordings is prohibited from dialing
any telephone lines utilized by the City of Egg Harbor City.
" Alarm equipment suppliers" are defined as any person, company, corporation
or organization who operates a central alarm and monitoring station or who
sells, installs, leases, maintains, repairs or services an alarm system within
the City of Egg Harbor City. Individual property owners or lessees of alarm
systems who maintain alarm systems for their own use are not to be considered
suppliers under this section. Any alarm equipment supplier must register with
the City of Egg Harbor City and obtain an annual mercantile license through
the City Clerk's office.
The mercantile license fee for an alarm equipment supplier shall be as provided in Chapter 174, Licenses.
Any alarm equipment supplier doing business in the City of Egg Harbor
City must provide the purchaser or lessee of said equipment with a copy of
this article and the forms necessary for registering with the City of Egg
Harbor City.
Each registered alarm equipment supplier shall make service available
on a twenty-four-hour-per-day basis, seven days a week, to repair said alarm
systems or to correct any malfunction that may occur.
At the time of installation, the alarm equipment supplier shall furnish
to any buyer or lessee written information as to how repair service may be
obtained at any time, including the telephone number of the alarm system supplier
or agent responsible for service. The buyer or lessee and the alarm equipment
supplier shall be responsible for having the device disconnected or repaired
immediately upon notice that the alarm system is not functioning properly.
When alarm systems fail to comply with the operational requirements set forth and the City of Egg Harbor City Communications Department has concluded that the alarm system should be disconnected in order to relieve the burden of responding to false alarms, the Supervising Telecommunicator is authorized to require that the owner or lessee or his/her representative disconnect the alarm system until it is made to comply with the operational requirements. Any notification requesting disconnection of an alarm system shall be by certified mail with return receipt requested. If disconnection of the defective alarm is not accomplished promptly and the Supervising Telecommunicator determines that the malfunctioning alarm system is repeatedly sending false alarms, the violations and penalties stated in § 85-12 of this article will apply.
For the purpose of defraying the costs to the City of Egg Harbor City of responding to a false alarm, the owner or lessee of an alarm system shall, as a condition of operation, be permitted five false alarms in each calendar year. After that, such owner, lessee or user shall pay to the City of Egg Harbor City $50 for each false alarm originating from the system. This sum shall be and constitute a civil claim by the city and does not affect the penalty provisions of § 85-12.
Failure of any person, company, corporation or organization to comply with the requirements of this article, except § 85-11, shall, upon conviction in Municipal Court, be subject to a fine of $25 for a first offense, $50 for a second offense and $100 for a third and each offense thereafter. Each day's failure to comply with such provision shall constitute a separate violation.
Repeated failure of an alarm equipment supplier to comply with the requirements
of this article may, after notice and an opportunity to be heard, result in
the suspension or revocation of the supplier's mercantile license by
City Council.
