CC_Minutes_2010_1115 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Regular City Council Meeting Monday, November 15, 2010 Page 6 three false alarms; with subsequent fees coming before the City Council at a fu- ture meeting. Councilmember Ihlan suggested a differential in fees between businesses and res- idents, questioning if the response was different between officer response to a commercial alarm rather than a home alarm. Councilmember Ihlan expressed her concern that an increase in fees could fall heavily on homeowners, and if it was determined that residential false alarm calls were less of a problem, it seemed fair to have higher penalties for businesses that didn't seem to take the false alarms se- riously or considered them simply a cost of doing business. Chief Mathwig advised that the same amount of resources were spent, no matter whether a residence or business; and that a typical triggered a phone call to Ram- sey County dispatchers who coded the call, but currently only provided an ad- dress, not a designation on whether it was a residential or business alarm, and to do so would require additional staff time for the Roseville Police Department. Councilmember Ihlan suggested that the officers in the squad would be able to differentiate, and she would support cost differentials only if they didn't have un- fair impacts; opining that businesses probably took longer to investigate than resi- dential alarms. Councilmember Roe opined that, related to fees, it made sense not to penalize res- idents as much as businesses; however, he noted that the proposed fee was for the third false alarm in a calendar year, providing for two free passes and fees nomin- al for the first one. Councilmember Roe further opined that it made sense to have a more substantial escalation factor for repeat offenders, causing residential prop- erties to become more alert; and future fee increases for businesses if it was so in- dicated. Councilmember Roe suggested that the fees provide for a maximum lim- it for a 12 month period, and would not be excessive but still addressing the issue and costs to the City. Mayor Klausing addressed the cost of providing the service, and unfair presump- tions that all businesses were wealthy and all residents were struggling. Mayor Klausing noted the number of small business owners who maybe were barely get- ting by and the impacts to their operations with higher fees. Mayor Klausing noted that using that rationale, the City Council may then need to consider income levels in establishing fines. Mayor Klausing expressed cautious support of an es- calating scale for fees; opining that three (3) false alarms for a homeowner may be easier to address than for a business with multiple managers and/or employee turnover. Councilmember Roe clarified that, given the inability of the Department's record keeping system in differentiating between residential or business calls, he was not suggesting fee differentials between them; but was supportive of more differen-