9.13.140 Appeal of determinations regarding alarm permits and fees.
A. If the Alarm Administrator assesses a fee, suspends an alarm permit or denies the issuance, renewal or reinstatement of an alarm permit, the Alarm Administrator shall send written notice of the action and a statement of the right to appeal to the affected applicant or alarm user and the alarm installation company or monitoring company.
B. The alarm user, alarm installation company or monitoring company may appeal any action described in subsection A of this section to the designated administrator of the police by setting forth in writing the reasons for the appeal and delivering the appeal to the police within 20 business days after receipt of notice of the action. Failure to deliver the appeal within that time period is a waiver of the right to appeal.
C. The procedure for an appeal of the Chief of Police is as follows:
1. The applicant, alarm user, alarm installation company or monitoring company may file a written request for appeal by paying an appeal fee to the City of Lakewood and setting forth the reasons for the appeal. The appeal must be entitled “Appeal from Alarm Administrator’s Action.” Appeal fees will be returned to the appealing party if the appeal is successful. Upon good cause shown, the designated administrator of the Police Chief may, in the exercise of discretion, waive the appeal fee for residential alarm users.
2. The designated administrator of the Police Chief shall conduct a recorded hearing within 30 days after receipt of the request for review and shall consider the evidence submitted by the appealing party and the Alarm Administrator. The designated administrator of the Police Chief must base his/her decision on the preponderance of evidence presented at the hearing and must render a decision within 15 days after the date of the hearing. The decision shall affirm or reverse the decision or action taken by the Alarm Administrator.
3. Filing of an appeal stays any action by the Alarm Administrator to suspend an alarm permit or require the payment of a fee or penalty until the appeal process has been exhausted. This provision applies only to the action of the Alarm Administrator that is the subject of the appeal. The provision does not operate as a bar to enforcement action or violations of this chapter that occur thereafter.
D. The Alarm Administrator or the Chief of Police or their respective designees may adjust the count of false alarms based on:
1. Evidence that false alarm was caused by action of a communications services provider (i.e., telephone, cellular, cable company);
2. Evidence that a false alarm was caused by a power outage;
3. Evidence that an alarm dispatch request was not a false alarm;
4. The occurrence of multiple alarms within a 24-hour period, which may be considered as one false alarm to allow the alarm user time to take corrective action, unless the false alarms are directly caused by the alarm user; or the Alarm Administrator may waive all of a false alarm fee or a partial part of the fee due to extenuating circumstances or to encourage corrective action;
5. On review of fees or penalties assessed to an alarm installation company or monitoring company, the Alarm Administrator, or, if appealed, the Chief, or designee, or the administrative hearing officer, may consider whether the alarm company had engaged in a consistent pattern of violations. [Ord. 664 § 5, 2017; Ord. 526 § 2, 2010.]