8.64.140 Appeals of Determinations Regarding Alarm Registrations, Fees and Fines.
A. If the Alarm Administrator assesses a fee or fine, suspends an alarm user or alarm company registration or denies the issuance, renewal or reinstatement of an alarm user or alarm company registration, 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 monitoring company.
B. The applicant, alarm user, alarm installation company or monitoring company may appeal any action to the Alarm Administrator or Sheriff's Department designee within 60 days after receipt of notice of the action. Failure to appeal within that time period is a waiver of the right to appeal.
C. The procedure for an appeal to the Alarm Administrator or Sheriff's Department designee is as follows:
1. The applicant, alarm user, alarm installation company or monitoring company may appeal by phone or in writing to the Alarm Administrator or Sheriff's Department designee. The Alarm Administrator shall forward the customer information, phone number and reason for appealing to the Sheriff's Department designee.
2. The Sheriff's Department designee shall review the appeal within 30 days of receipt of the request for appeal, contact the applicant, alarm user, alarm installation company or monitoring company for resolution, and inform the Alarm Administrator of any adjustments which need to be made on the account.
3. Any person aggrieved by the decision of the Sheriff's Department designee may appeal in accordance with the procedure set forth in Chapter 1.22 PCC.
4. Filing of an appeal stays any action by the Alarm Administrator to suspend an alarm registration or require the payment of a fee or fine 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 Chapter that occur thereafter.
D. The Alarm Administrator or the Sheriff's Department designee may adjust the count of false alarms based on:
1. Evidence that a false alarm was caused by action of a communications services provider (e.g., 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 Sheriff's Department designee may waive all or part of a false alarm fine due to extenuating circumstances or to encourage corrective action.
F. The Sheriff's Department designee may waive 50 percent of the false alarm fine for the first chargeable false alarm during the alarm user's registration period, pending the successful completion of the alarm user awareness class available through the Alarm Administrator. In order to have the fine partially waived, the alarm user shall be in possession of a valid alarm registration and have successfully completed the class within 60 days of the fine notice. Alarm users without online access may request the alarm user awareness class be mailed to them and reasonable additional time to complete the class shall be allowed for mail delivery.