By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
HOULTON — The town will soon start charging fees to companies that have security systems for false alarms reported to the police department.
Town councilors unanimously agreed to the measure Feb. 11 at the suggestion of Houlton Police Chief Butch Asselin, who told councilors that his department responds to about 240 false alarms per year. Most of those calls are due to human error.
The town already has an alarm ordinance in place, but the council amended that ordinance to include language that allows the municipality to charge up to $50 per occurrence for false alarms. During a calendar year, any business with three or fewer violations is not penalized. If a company has four to nine false alarms, they will be fined $25 per occurrence. If a business has 10 or more, they can be penalized $50 per occurrence.
“What this is designed to do is cut down on the number of false alarms at different locations here in town,” Town Manager Eugene Conlogue said. “When you have more than three false alarms per year, the town can then penalize you financially.”
Conlogue said those businesses with alarm systems were notified by police and told of the council’s plans to implement the ordinance change. They were also asked to provide input. No business owners attended the council session during the public hearing.
Council chairman Paul Cleary asked Asselin how his department planned to collect the fees and if the fee structure extended to private residences.
“There are a few residences (with alarm systems), but the vast majority are businesses,” Asselin said. “The way we would collect is much the same as we would a parking ticket. A ticket is a fee. If you fail to pay that fee, it results in a fine. The purpose is to encourage businesses to fix their alarm systems.”
Previously, the town had few options when it came to discouraging false alarms, Asselin said. He added there was one business that had more than 40 false alarms last year, while there were a few others that had 20. Those businesses were not named at the meeting.
“We have to go to these alarms, and oftentimes the owners won’t even come out,” he said.
Councilor Dan Peabody asked if a business called to cancel the false alarm, due to human error, before police arrived, would the incident still qualify.
Asselin said police are obligated to still respond to a security alarm, even if a business calls to say it was an error. However, those incidents may not count toward that businesses false alarm tally for the year.
The fee structure does not extend to false alarms called in to the fire department, but could in the future.
Town vehicle use
The council also amended its personnel policy to prohibit employees from using town-owned vehicles for personal use or allowing private passengers in those vehicles. The town’s fire chief was made exempt from the policy because his town-owned vehicle serves as a mobile command center on fire calls.
Fire Chief Milton Cone said on occasion he has responded to fire calls while driving his personal vehicle and was left without the appropriate gear to manage the scene properly.
Cleary said he heard concerns from some in the public about the fire chief using the vehicle to bring garbage to the transfer station.
“It just looks wrong when people who are at the dumping station see you show up taking trash in the chief’s vehicle,” Cleary said. “I get calls about that all the time. I understand you are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week and that you need to go to a fire when it happens. But we need to be considerate and realize what we are using these vehicles for. They are for town use in case of an emergency. We shouldn’t be using them for personal use, period.”
Cleary added it was his opinion that since the town pays for the gas for these vehicles, they shouldn’t be used to run personal errands.
The ordinance passed 5-1, with council Sue Tortello in opposition.
