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A. If the alarm administrator assesses a fee, suspends an alarm permit, security alarm license or denies the issuance, renewal or reinstatement of an alarm permit or security alarm license, the alarm administrator shall send written notice of the action and a statement of the right to appeal to the affected applicant, alarm user, alarm installation company or alarm monitoring company.

B. The alarm user, alarm installation company or alarm monitoring company or other interested party may appeal any action described in subsection A of this section to the chief of police or designee by setting forth in writing the reasons for the appeal and delivering the appeal to the chief of police or designee 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 to the chief of police or designee 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 of $25.00 to the police department 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.

2. The chief of police or designee shall conduct a 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 chief of police or designee must base the 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. Any person aggrieved by the decision of the chief of police or designee may appeal in accordance with the procedure set forth in ACC 18.70.050.

4. Filing of an appeal stays any action by the alarm administrator to suspend an alarm permit or require the payment of a fee 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. This provision does not operate as a bar to enforcement action on violations of this section that occur thereafter.

D. The alarm administrator or the chief of police, or their respective designees, may adjust the count of false alarms or assessed fees based on:

1. Evidence that a 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 of more than four hours or severe weather such as a tornado or earthquake;

3. Evidence that an alarm dispatch request was not a false alarm; or

4. The occurrence of multiple alarms within a 24-hour period, which may be considered as one false alarm if the alarm user has taken corrective action, unless the false alarms are directly caused by the alarm user.

E. The alarm administrator may waive all of a false alarm fee or a part of the fee due to extenuating circumstances or to encourage corrective action.

F. On review of fees assessed to an alarm installation company or monitoring company, the alarm administrator, or, if appealed, chief of police, or designee, or the administrative hearing officer, may consider whether the alarm installation company or monitoring company has engaged in a consistent pattern of violations. (Ord. 6216 § 1, 2009.)