Alarm ordinance scrutinized

Council members question fee structure

Thu., Jan. 21, 2010

By Nina Culver nculver47@gmail.com

On television

This week’s Spokane Valley City Council meeting can be seen on Comcast Channel 14 at 7:30 p.m. Monday. DVD copies of the meetings will also now be available at the Spokane Valley Library, 12004 E. Main Ave., and the Spokane Valley Senior Center, 2426 N. Discovery Place.

The effort to record the meetings is being funded by the Spokane Valley Business Association, which is seeking donations to help fund the effort. Donations can be sent to the SVBA in care of Treasurer Dick Behm, 9405 E. Sprague Ave., Suite 3, Spokane Valley, WA 99206.

Public comment

Highlights from Tuesday’s council meeting:

Dick Behm – Read a prepared statement in support of the Sprague/Appleway Revitalization Plan. The plan was the result of years of work, public meetings and research. He acknowledged that the long-term plan isn’t perfect and would need tweaks and changes over its lifetime. “SARP is a plan in progress. We would ask the city council not to throw the baby out with the bathwater and act in haste.”

Alvin Fisher – Would like the city council to address the panhandling issue without further burdening the already busy police department. “I think it’s something this council should look into. I see numerous violations. There’s got to be some way to cure this problem.”

The Spokane Valley City Council dealt quickly and easily with its current business Tuesday, unanimously passing several housekeeping resolutions and ordinances. A much larger chunk of time was spent rehashing decisions already made.

During the Jan. 12 meeting, council member Bob McCaslin said he was concerned about the registration costs associated with the city’s new alarm ordinance. Each alarm system must now be registered and people will be charged for every false alarm. The purpose of the new ordinance is to cut down on the number of false alarms and allow officers more time on the street rather than responding to alarms.

Police Chief Rick Van Leuven gave a lengthy overview of “a year’s worth of work” that went into the decision to pass an ordinance. He pointed out that officers spent 527 man hours responding to 1,055 false alarms in 2008. The city recovered only about $14,000 in fees for those alarms because the fines had to work their way through the court system and each fine was split four ways, Van Leuven said.

The new ordinance allows the department to contract with a company to handle the registrations and false alarm paperwork, freeing up officers and court staff. The company receives 25 percent of the annual registration fees while the rest goes into the city’s general fund.

“We still believe it makes sense financially,” Van Leuven said. He called the new alarm ordinance an “ideal way” to implement cost effective solutions to the problem.

Deputy City Attorney Cary Driskell said the registration fees are built in to the contract and can’t be changed unless the city amends the contract, which is in effect until 2012. He said he was also wary of changing the income stream in mid-contract.

The review of the program was done at McCaslin’s request, but he was not in attendance. He is in Olympia serving in his other capacity as a state Senator.

Council member Dean Grafos called it a “great program,” but said he would like to see people get a free first false alarm while people get used to the new system. “I don’t have a problem with any of the other fees,” he said.

Van Leuven said that any newly installed alarm system has a 60-day grace period in which false alarm fines are not charged.

In other business, the council heard a presentation on the city’s animal control contract with the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service (SCRAPS) in advance to making some changes related to the dangerous animal laws.

Grafos requested that a discussion of installing crosswalks in the area of Auto Row on Sprague be added to the agenda in the coming weeks. He also asked city staff to add all the previous annual budgets to the city Web site in the interests of “public disclosure.”

The next regular council meeting is set for Feb. 2, where the council is scheduled to vote on the procedure to replace the city manager. A winter retreat is also planned for Feb. 9 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at CenterPlace, 2426 N. Discovery Place.