[1]
Cross references: Annual inventory of City property to be submitted to Mayor and auditor, § 2-2; annual reports by boards and officers to Mayor, § 2-9; turn over an accounting for funds, § 2-88; books and records to correspond to fiscal year, § 2-89.
State law reference—Inspector of Wires, M.G.L.A. c. 166, § 32.
[Gen. Ords. 1962, § 2-5; Ord. No. 23392, § 2, 3-26-1973]
The Inspector of Wires shall be appointed by the Mayor, subject to confirmation by the Council, for a term of three years and until his successor in office is appointed and qualified. Such term shall commence on the first Monday in March and the appointment shall be made by the Mayor on or before the first Monday in February.
[Gen. Ords. 1962, § 13-26; Ord. No. 28764, 4-12-1999]
The Inspector of Wires shall have charge of the Electric Wires Department. In carrying out the duties of the office, the Inspector of Wires may hire such personnel as shall be required for the efficient operation of the Department, subject to necessary appropriations and approvals.
[Gen. Ords. 1962, § 13-27]
(a) 
The Inspector of Wires shall, by virtue of his office, be superintendent of the fire alarm telegraph, the police signal system and all other electric wires and wire systems now or hereafter owned by the City. He shall have the care and management of the wires, apparatus and machinery and other property connected therewith, and shall keep the same at all times in good working order and shall have access to all buildings and places necessary for these purposes. All additions to such systems and all new electric wires and apparatus erected by the City or for its use shall be erected under his supervision and to his satisfaction. He shall have the care of all public clocks and streetlights. He shall report to the Chief of the Fire Department at all fires and while there shall be subject to his orders.
(b) 
He shall supervise every wire over streets or buildings in the City, every wire within a building where such wire is designed to carry an electric light or power current and all electric light, power, telephone and telegraph wires. He shall notify the person owning or operating any such wire whenever its attachments, insulation, supports or appliances are unsuitable or unsafe or the tags or marks thereof required by law are insufficient or illegible and shall, at the expense of the City, remove every wire which shall be unprovided with a tag or mark as required by MGL c. 166, such expense to be paid by the owner of such wire. He shall see that all laws, ordinances and regulations relating to electric wires and conduits are strictly enforced. He shall grant all locations for electric services that are to be attached to a building.
[Gen. Ords. 1962, § 13-31]
Whenever, in the opinion of the Inspector of Wires, any electrical conductors or appliances used for the distribution of electric current within a building are in an unsafe or dangerous condition, he is authorized to cut out or shut off the current and order the existing defects remedied before the current is turned on or order the existing defects remedied within a reasonable time.
[Ord. No. 25057, 2-8-1982]
(a) 
A fire alarm service charge is hereby established. The charges shall be paid by owners of estates utilizing the municipal fire alarm system of the City by reason of connection of a master fire alarm box to the municipal fire alarm system.
(b) 
The fire alarm service charge and all other charges incident thereto shall be determined annually by the Inspector of Wires, subject to the approval of the Mayor.
(c) 
The fire alarm service charge shall offset the projected annual costs to the City for the operation and maintenance of the master fire alarm system.
(d) 
Estates owned by or under the jurisdiction of the School Department of the City, shall be exempt from payment of the annual charge.
[Ord. No. 25057, 2-8-1982]
The Inspector of Wires shall, in April of each year, project the aggregate annual costs for the operation and maintenance of the system. Based on the projected costs, he shall determine the annual charge to be paid for the ensuing fiscal year to commence July 1. The Inspector shall submit said charge to the Mayor for his approval. Upon approval of the Mayor, it shall be binding upon all estates utilizing the system.
[Ord. No. 25057, 2-8-1982]
(a) 
All bills, for the fire alarm service charge shall be due and payable on July 1 of each fiscal year or 30 days from the mailing of the bill by the Inspector, whichever is the later date.
(b) 
In the event that the bill is not paid within 60 days of its due date, the service shall, without further notice, be disconnected.
[Ord. No. 25737, 6-24-1985; Ord. No. 29346, 8-6-2001]
(a) 
Definitions. For the purpose of this section, the following terms, phrases, words and their derivations shall have the meanings given herein. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future; words used in the plural number include the singular number; and words in the singular number include the plural number. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory.
ALARM SYSTEM
An assembly of equipment and devices or a single device such as a solid state unit which plugs directly into a one-hundred-ten-volt A.C. line, arranged to signal the presence of a hazard requiring urgent attention and to which the Fire Department is expected to respond.
ALARM USER OR USER
Any person on whose premises an alarm system is maintained within the City. Included in this definition and under coverage of this section of the ordinance are central station alarm systems.
AUTOMATIC DIALING DEVICE
An alarm system which automatically sends over regular telephone lines, by direct connection or otherwise, a prerecorded voice message or coded signal indicating the existence of the emergency situation that the alarm system is designed to detect.
CENTRAL STATION
Any private alarm office to which alarm and supervisory signaling devices are maintained continuously to investigate signals.
CITY
The City of Waltham.
DIRECT CONNECT
An alarm system which is tied into the fire alarm office.
FALSE ALARM
(1) 
The activation of an alarm system through mechanical failure, malfunction, improper installation or negligence of the user of an alarm system or of his employees, agents or tenants;
(2) 
Any sign or oral communication transmitted to the fire alarm office requesting or requiring or resulting in a response on the part of the Fire Department when, in fact, there has been no fire or reason to summon the Fire Department.
The determination of whether there has been adequate reason to summon the Fire Department shall be made by the senior fire officer responding to the alarm. The determination shall be documented in the fire officer's written report. A malfunction of the system, as determined by said senior fire officer, shall be considered a false alarm.
Excluded from this definition are activations of alarm systems caused by outside sources, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and similar conditions.
FIRE ALARM OFFICE
The City fire alarm headquarters that monitors all fire alarms with instrumentation on an alarm console at the receiving terminal of a signal line through both visual and audible signals.
INTERCONNECT
To connect an alarm system to a voice grade telephone line, either directly or through a mechanical device that utilizes a standard telephone for the purpose of using the telephone line to transmit an emergency message upon the activation of the alarm system.
SUPERINTENDENT OF FIRE ALARMS
The Inspector of Wires of the City or his designated representative.
(b) 
Administrative rules. In addition to the following administrative rules the Superintendent of Fire Alarms may promulgate further administrative rules as may be necessary for the implementation of this section.
(1) 
Automatic dialing devices; Interconnection to fire alarm office.
a. 
Automatic dialing devices shall only be connected to the fire alarm office with the express permission of the Superintendent of Fire Alarms and only to the number designated by him.
b. 
Within six months after the effective date of this section, all owners of automatic dialing devices interconnected to any telephone numbers at the fire alarm office shall make themselves known in writing to the Superintendent of Fire Alarms with the names of two persons who are responsible for the system on a twenty-four-hour basis.
(2) 
(Reserved)
(c) 
Testing of equipment. No alarm system designed to transmit emergency messages directly to the fire alarm office shall be worked on, tested or demonstrated without obtaining permission from the Superintendent of Fire Alarms. Permission is not required to test or demonstrate alarm devices not transmitting emergency messages directly to the fire alarm office. An authorized test constitutes a false alarm.
(d) 
False alarms.
(1) 
When emergency messages are received by the fire alarm office that evidence false alarms, the Superintendent of Fire Alarms shall take action as may be appropriate under Paragraphs (2), (3), (4) and (5) of this subsection and, when so required by the terms of the aforementioned paragraphs, may order that use of an alarm system be discontinued.
(2) 
After the fire alarm office has recorded three separate false alarms within the fiscal year from an alarm system, the Superintendent of Fire Alarms shall notify the alarm user in writing by certified mail, of such fact and require the user to submit, within 15 days after receipt of such notice, a report describing efforts to discover and eliminate the cause or causes of the false alarm. At the expiration of 15 days, the Superintendent of Fire Alarms shall notify the user of his failure to comply and the user shall forthwith file such report or request an extension of the time for filing the report and the Superintendent of Fire Alarms may extend the fifteen-day period for a reasonable period. If the user fails to submit such a report within 15 days or within any such extended period, the Superintendent of Fire Alarms may order the use of the alarm system be discontinued. Any such discontinuance shall be effectuated within 15 days from the date of receipt of the Superintendent of Fire Alarms' order.
(3) 
In the event that the Superintendent of Fire Alarms determines that a report submitted in accordance with Paragraph (2) of this subsection is unsatisfactory, or that the alarm user has failed to show by the report that he has taken or will take reasonable steps to eliminate or reduce false alarms then the Superintendent of Fire Alarms may order that use of the alarm system to discontinued. Any such discontinuance shall be effectuated within 15 days from the date of receipt of the Superintendent of Fire Alarms' order.
(4) 
Any user of an alarm system which transmits false alarms shall be assessed a fine of $150 for a third false alarm occurring within the fiscal year; $300 for a fourth false alarm occurring within the fiscal year; $300 for each subsequent false alarm occurring within the fiscal year. All fines assessed hereunder shall be paid to the City Wires Department for deposit in the general fund. Upon failure of the user of an alarm system to pay two fines assessed hereunder within 60 days of assessment, the Superintendent of Fire Alarms may order that the user discontinue use of the alarm system. If the system is tied into the fire alarm office, the Superintendent of Fire Alarms may disconnect such system. Upon payment of the fines, or correction of the problem which caused such system to be disconnected, the Superintendent of Fire Alarms shall reconnect such system. Any such discontinuance shall be effectuated within 15 days from the date of receipt of the Superintendent of Fire Alarms' order.
(5) 
Any user of an alarm system who has, in accordance with this section, been ordered by the Superintendent of Fire Alarms to discontinue use of an alarm system may appeal the order of discontinuance to the City Council and the filing of such appeal with the City Clerk shall immediately stay the order of discontinuance.
Notice of appeal shall be filed with the Clerk of the City Council within 10 days of the date of the order of discontinuance; thereafter, the City Council shall consider the merits of the appeal and, in connection therewith, shall hear evidence presented by all interested persons. After hearing such evidence, the City Council may affirm, vacate, or modify the order of discontinuance.
(e) 
Penalties. The following acts and omissions shall constitute violation of this section punishable by a fine of $100:
(1) 
Failure to obey an order of the Superintendent of Fire Alarms to discontinue use of an alarm system, after exhaustion of the right of appeal.
(2) 
Interconnection of an automatic dialing device to other than the number supplied by the Superintendent of Fire Alarms.
(3) 
Failure to pay two or more fines assessed under this section within 60 days from the date of assessment.[1]
[1]
Cross reference — Fire Prevention and Protection, Ch. 6; alarm systems, § 10-5.