HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-12-03 Health & Public Safety Committee ttport
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The May 12, 2003 meeting of the Health and Public Safety Committee was called to order by its
Chairperson, Council Member Roland Kelly at 3:53 p.m. in the Council Informal Meeting Room.
Persons in attendance included Council Members Aranowski, Coleman, Kelly, Kuspa, Varner,
Kirsits and King; Fire Chief Luther Taylor, City Controller Rick 011ett, Ann-Carol Nash, Michael
Beitzinger, Thomas Walz, Elizabeth Leonard, Lt. Dick Powers,Juanita Dempsey, members of the
Community Oriented Policing Leadership Council of South Bend, Terry Bland of the float
eras Cribunt and Council Attorney Kathleen Cekanski-Farrand.
Council Member Kelly noted that the primary item on the agenda was to review Bill No. 31-03
which would amend Chapters 4 and 12 of the South Bend
Municipal Code
to
include lude new regulations add ressing
"alarm systems".
C.O.P. Coordinator, Lt. Dick Powers of the South Bend Police Department made the presentation
on behalf of the Community Oriented Policing Leadership Council of South Bend which has put in
hundreds of hours reviewing data and contacting other communities. He noted that the proposed
ordinance has been four and one-half years in the making, is aimed to addressing the growing
problems posed by false alarms and develops a new program to address such false alarms. The
proposed ordinance would regulate the activities of those who own, install, maintain, rent, lease or
monitor alarm systems, devices or services. Improving the reliability of such systems and devices
as well as assisting fire and police personnel to respond to actual criminal activity, public safety
duties and firefighting duties are the overall goals.
Lt. Powers then provided several handouts and summarized salient information from each.
Among the handouts were one-page documents containing two (2) pie charts each which revealed
the following information(copies attached):
• Year Residential/Comm'1 Alarms # of False Alarms % of False Alarms
2002 10,360 10,107 97.56%
2001 10,899 10,587 98.34%
2000 11,412 10,959 96.03%
1999 10,246 9,964 97.25%
1998 11,899 11,701 98.34%
1997 9,773 9,616 98.39%
Lt. Powers then provided a 14-page handout (copy attached).ched
). He
noted
that th e false lse a larm r
a at "unacceptable levels" with over 2,311 hours of "d own time" being reported i n calendar 2000 for public safety personnel working in the police and de part men ated that
alarms place such public safety personnel in increased danger of traffic accidents w end of
responding to such alarms. One of the handouts dated 12-13-02 detailed the cost for an alan
fifteen (15) minutes would be $27.9617 when the costs of the officer, dispatcher cost, alarm
ordinatorcost are taken into consideration.
Lt. Powers noted that to date there have been 3,033 alarms with 2,981 of those being false
year. Meetings have been held with the four (4) major companies and they have met with sc:
representatives and Honeywell. Information from Indianapb1 ansville and Fort Wayne have
been reviewed. The proposed ordinance would cover both police and fire calls for service.
Health and Public Safety Committee
May 12, 2003
Page 2
Council Member Kelly asked what were the results from the other communities. Lt. Powers stated
that Evansville was the first to regulate in this area and that it reduced its false alarm rate by 35-
37%in the first six (6) months.
Lt. Powers then identified the following measures which increase the rate of false alarms:
1. New employees are not given the proper code
2. Alarm codes are not given to janitors and cleaning crews
3. Coaches and teachers going in and out during extra-curricular activities are tripping
alarms at the various schools.
Ann-Carol Nash of the City Attorney's Office then circulated a 2nd substitute bill.
The Council Attorney noted that it included three (3)3 changes which she recommended which$ h h were
summarized as follows: 1. On page 1 "(d) was added to Section 1 immediately after Section 4-17;
2. On page 3, Sec. 4-64 the words "to add a provision for licensing fees for Alarm Agents,
which" was added to the introduction of that section; and 3. On page 7, Section 12-6 "payable to
the Ordinance Violations Bureau"was added for clarification purposes.
Council Member King noted that this proposed ordinance has been worked on for a long time and
that it was especially notable because it was initiated by citizens. He noted that all of the members
of the Community Oriented Policing Leadership Council of South Bend deserve to be recognized
for their hard work on this important project.
Juanita Dempsey of the COP Leadership Council of SB stated that she believes that the proposed
ordinance is a very strong ordinance that is sorely needed. She stated that the alarm companies are
behind it and that it should result in faulty equipment being corrected.
Council Member Kelly thanked all of the COP Leadership Council members for their years of
dedication on this project.
Council Member Kirsits noted that he is a member of the South Bend Fire Department, however
based on legal advise from the Council Attorney, he will be able to participate on this ordinance so
long as he provides this disclaimer. He then voiced concern over the difficulty of staying at a
location for longer than 15 minutes, sometimes over two hours, when a key holder refuses to come
to the location when an alarm has gone off. He stated that he could name at least five (5)
companies that just refuse to respond and come to the location. He noted that emergency
responders are often needed elsewhere, and he believes that the ordinance is not specific enough in
this area to allow such public safety personnel to leave in such situations.
Fire Chief Luther Taylor stated that he believes that 15 minutes is adequate time for a key holder to
arrive,unless a different time which is reasonable has been told that they would be at the location.
Council Member Kirsits stated that the city needs to protect the officers at the scene.
After much discussion, Council Member King suggested that this issue appears to be unresolved
and suggested that the COP Leadership Council and Lt. Powdrs consider continuing the Bill so that
this issue could be addressed at the next Council meeting.
Health and Public Safety Committee
May 12, 2003
Page 3
Council Member Kirsits then made a motion, seconded by Council Member Kuspa that Bill No.
31-03 be continued at the request of the petitioner until May 27th. The motion passed.
There being no further business to come before the Committee, Council Member Kelly adjourned
the meeting at 4:20 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Council Member Roland Kelly, Chairperson
Health and Public Safety Committee
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Attachments