[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors (now Board
of Commissioners) of the Township of Pocono 5-18-1998 by Ord. No. 82. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
This chapter shall be known as the "Pocono Township Emergency
Response and Reimbursement Ordinance of 1998."
A.
Terms used in this chapter which are defined in the Pennsylvania
Hazardous Material Emergency Planning and Response Act, 35 P.S. § 6022.101
et seq., or any amendments thereto, shall have the same meaning as
set forth in that Act unless expressly defined differently herein.
B.
Terms used in this chapter which are defined in the 1992 and 1994
amendments to the Pennsylvania Insurance Company Law, Acts 1992-98
and 1994-93, respectively, or any subsequent amendments thereto,[1] shall be presumed to have the same meaning as set forth
in that Act, unless expressly defined differently herein.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 40 P.S. § 638.
C.
ALARM
ALARM REGISTRATION
AUTOMATIC PROTECTION DEVICE
BOARD
EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION CENTER
EMERGENCY INCIDENT
EMERGENCY RESPONSE AGENCIES
EMERGENCY SERVICE COST
(1)
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(2)
FALSE ALARMS
FIRE LOSS
INSTALLER
INSURING AGENT
KEY
RESPONSIBLE PARTIES
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
SENSORY DEVICES
TOWNSHIP
Specifically defined terms. As used in this chapter, the following
terms shall have the meanings indicated:
Any siren, bell, horn or other device which is attached to
the interior or exterior of a structure and emits a warning signal
audible outside the structure, or transmits a prerecorded voice alarm
or other signal and is designed to attract attention, or transmits
a message to an emergency communication center, when activated by
a criminal act or other emergency requiring emergency response agencies
to respond. The term "alarm" shall include automatic protection devices
and sensory devices.
Documentation pertaining to any alarm system which identifies
the owner or lessee of the system; the address of the property which
is protected by the system; the identity of individuals authorized
to respond to the alarm in order to gain access to the property and
deactivate the system; the identity of the firm or individual who
installed the system and can provide emergency repair service; and
any other data required by Pocono Township.
An electrically operated instrument composed of sensory apparatus
and related hardware which automatically transmits a prerecorded voice
alarm or other similar message over telephone line, by direct or indirect
connection to an emergency communication center, upon receipt of a
stimulus from sensory apparatus that has detected a physical force
or other stimulus inherently characteristic of a fire intrusion.
The Board of Commissioners of Pocono Township.
A protection system or group of such systems, operated privately
for customers or publicly by a person, firm, corporation or governmental
entity which maintains, supervises or accepts recorded messages from
automatic protection devices at a central station having operators
that have the duty to take appropriate action upon receipt of a signal
or message.
An occurrence involving a risk of harm and/or imminent threat
to private or public property, life or a potential threat to the environment
or public health, safety, including but not limited to fires; petroleum,
chemical or hazardous materials spills and releases; and building,
well, trench or sinkhole collapses.
Fire companies, ambulance corps, paramedics, police and other
emergency providers serving the residents of the Township or responding
to requests for and/or assistance pursuant to any mutual aid agreement
duly authorized by the Township, and Township employees responding
to an emergency incident at the request of any emergency response
agency.
All direct and indirect costs and expenses incurred or expended
by the Township or any emergency service agency, or both, in connection
with any emergency incident, including but not limited to the following:
The costs of labor calculated by determining the actual hourly
wage rate plus the hourly cost of fringe benefits (and including overtime
rates, if applicable) normally paid by the Township to Township personnel
involved in responding to any emergency incident times the number
of hours worked in response to any emergency incident or, in the case
of emergency response agency volunteer personnel, the reasonable hourly
value of the volunteer personnel, as determined by the Township Board
of Commissioners from time to time, taking into account the funds
expended to train and properly equip each such volunteer, times the
number of hours worked by each such volunteer in response to any emergency
incident; and
The cost of all nonreusable materials and all contaminated or
consumed materials utilized in connection with any emergency incident;
and
The cost of all equipment, calculated by estimating the number
of hours of the useful life of such equipment and dividing the same
into replacement cost plus the maintenance cost of said equipment
and then multiplying the result by the number of hours such equipment
was in service in response to any emergency incident; and
The administrative cost of recordkeeping, information processing
and compilation of a bill of costs; and
The reasonable attorney's fees and costs (including witness
fees) of pursing any and all enforcement or collection actions for
emergency service costs against responsible parties.
In no event shall the emergency service cost assessed and collected
for any single emergency response agency as a result of any individual
incident exceed $500 under the terms and provisions of this chapter,
except in the case of emergency incidents involving hazardous materials,
in which event the full emergency service cost shall be assessed and
collected.
Any alarm or signal activated by an automatic protection
device, or any other kind of direct or indirect signal given to an
emergency communication center, or any signal given from a sensory
device, to which police or firemen respond, which is not the result
of weather extremes, burglary, robbery, fire or similar emergency.
Any loss occurring after the effective date of this chapter
and covered under a policy of fire insurance, including all endorsements
or riders to the policy.
Any company, corporation or individual which has contracted
to engage or has engaged in the act of installing fire, intrusion,
water or other alarms or alarm systems, which are designated to require
a response from any emergency response agency.
Any fire or casualty insurer which provides reimbursement
for emergency response agency costs or expenses in the event of an
emergency incident.
To use a telephone line and equipment for transmitting a
message either directly or indirectly by an automatic protection device.
The following person(s) or legal entities shall, for the
purposes of this chapter, be deemed responsible parties:
The owner of any petroleum, petroleum distillate or by-product,
hazardous material or chemical and any carrier, including any pipeline
owner, of any such material which is spilled, released, dumped, deposited
or stored and to which there is a response by an emergency response
agency.
The owner of the real property on which any petroleum, petroleum
distillate or by-product, hazardous material or chemical is spilled,
released, dumped, deposited or stored and to which there is a response
by an emergency response agency.
The owner of real or personal property on or in which there
occurs an unfriendly fire; a building, well, trench or sinkhole collapse
requiring rescue efforts or otherwise threatening life, property or
the environment; or vehicular accidents involving fire, personal injury
or loss of life, to which there is a response by an emergency response
agency.
All person(s) and legal entity or entities found to be legally
responsible in any court of competent jurisdiction for causing of
any emergency incident.
A device attached to the interior of a structure which is
not tied to an emergency communication center and is or is intended
to be audible on the exterior of the structure to which it is attached.
The Township of Pocono.
A.
Payment of municipal claims and lienable amounts.
(1)
Certificates of municipal claim. The Township's designated officer
shall, upon the written request of the named insured specifying the
tax description of the property, name and address of the insuring
agent and the date agreed upon by the insuring agent and the named
insured as the date of the receipt of a loss report of the claim,
furnish the insuring agent with either of the following within 14
days of the request:
(a)
A certificate to the effect that, as of the date specified in
the request, there are no delinquent taxes, assessments, penalties
or user charges against the property and that, as of the date of the
Township's certificate, the Township has not certified any amount
as total costs incurred by the Township for the removal, repair or
securing of a building or other structure on the property;
(b)
A certificate and bill showing the amount of delinquent taxes,
assessments, penalties and use charges against the property as of
the date specified in the request that have not been paid as of the
date of the certificate and also showing, as of the date of the Township's
certificate, the amount of the total costs, if any, certified to the
Township that have been incurred by the Township for the removal,
repair or securing of a building or other structure on the property.
For the purposes of this clause, the Township shall provide to the
Township Treasurer the total amount, if any, of such costs, if available,
or the amount of costs known to the Township at the time of the Township's
certificate; or
(c)
For purposes of this section, a tax, assessment, penalty or
user charge becomes delinquent at the time and on the date a lien
could otherwise have been filed against the property by the Township
under applicable law.
(2)
Fire losses.
(a)
Upon the receipt of a certificate and bill pursuant to § 230-3A(1)(b) of this chapter, the insuring agent shall return the bill to the Township Treasurer and transfer to the Township an amount from the insurance proceeds necessary to pay the taxes, assessments, penalties, charges and costs as shown on the bill or the full amount of the insurance proceeds, whichever is the lesser amount. The Township shall receive the amount and apply or credit it to payment of the items shown in the bill. Further, the terms of § 230-3A(2)(b)[5][c] shall be followed, if applicable. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the ability of the Township to recover any deficiency.
(b)
Upon receipt of a certificate pursuant to § 230-3A(1) of this chapter, the insuring agent shall pay the claim of the named insured in accordance with the policy terms, except that if the fire loss agreed upon by the named insured and the insuring agent equals or exceeds 60% of the aggregate limits of liability on all fire insurance policies covering the building or other structure, the following procedures shall be followed:
[1]
The insuring agent shall transfer from any insurance proceeds
to the Township Treasurer the sum of $2,000 for each $15,000 of the
policyholder's claim and for each fraction of that amount of
a claim. If the total claim is $15,000 or less, the amount transferred
to the Township shall be $2,000; or
[2]
If, at the time of a fire loss report, the named insured has submitted a contractor's signed estimate of the costs of removing, repairing or securing the building or other structure in an amount less than the amount calculated under § 230-3A(2)(b)[1] above, the insuring agent shall transfer to the Township from the insurance proceeds the amount specified in the estimate.
[3]
The transfer of proceeds to the Township shall be on a pro rata
basis by all companies, associations or exchanges insuring the building
or other structure. Policy proceeds remaining after the transfer to
the Township shall be disbursed in accordance with the policy terms.
[4]
After the transfer, the named insured may submit a contractor's
signed estimate of the costs of removing, repairing or securing the
building or other structure, and the Township Treasurer shall return
the amount of the funds transferred to the Township in excess of the
estimate to the named insured, if the Township has not commenced to
remove, repair or secure the building or other structure.
[5]
Upon receipt of proceeds under this section, the Township shall
do the following:
[a]
The Township Treasurer shall place the proceeds
in a separate fund to be used solely as security against the total
costs of removing, repairing or securing the building or structure
which are incurred by the Township. Such costs shall include, without
limitation, any engineering, legal or administrative costs incurred
by the Township in connection with such removal, repair or securing
of the building or any proceedings related thereto.
[b]
It is the obligation of the insuring agent when
transferring the proceeds to provide the Township with the name and
address of the named insured. Upon receipt of the transferred funds
and the name and address of the named insured, the Township Treasurer
shall contact the named insured, certify that the proceeds have been
received by the Township and notify the named insured that the procedures
under this subsection shall be followed.
[c]
When repairs, removal or securing of the building
or other structure have been completed in accordance with all applicable
regulations and orders of the Township and the required proof of such
completion has been received by the Township Treasurer, and if the
Township has not incurred any costs for repairs, removal or securing,
the fund shall be returned to the named insured. If the Township has
incurred costs for repairs, removal or securing of the building or
other structure, the costs shall be paid from the fund, and if excess
funds remain, the Township shall transfer the remaining funds to the
named insured.
[d]
To the extent that interest is earned on proceeds
held by the Township pursuant to this section, and such proceeds are
not returned to the named insured, such interest shall belong to the
Township. To the extent that proceeds are returned to the named insured,
interest earning on such proceeds shall be distributed to the named
insured at the time that the proceeds are returned.
(3)
Claim payment limitations and fire losses. No insuring agent doing business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania shall pay a claim of a named insured for fire damage to a structure located within the Township where the amount recoverable for the fire loss to the structure under all policies exceeds $7,500, unless the insuring agent is furnished by the Township Treasurer with a municipal certificate pursuant to Section 638(a) of the Insurance Law and § 230-3A of this chapter, and unless there is compliance with Section 638(c) and (d) of the Insurance Law and with the provisions of this chapter.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 40 P.S. § 638(a), (c) and
(d), respectively.
B.
Emergency service cost reimbursement.
(1)
Invoicing procedure. The Township Treasurer shall, upon the written
request of any emergency response agencies, remit invoices to the
responsible party/parties involved in any emergency incident, which
specify the emergency incident and request reimbursement for emergency
service costs, within 60 days of the invoice date.
(2)
The responsible party/parties shall promptly remit the invoice referenced in § 230-3B(1) above to his/her/its/their insuring agent, if any, which evidences the sixty-day response date.
(3)
If the responsible party/parties' insuring agent shall not have
paid the invoice remitted to it within said sixty-day period, the
responsible party/parties shall be deemed responsible for immediate
payment of the emergency service costs evidenced thereby.
C.
Designated officer. The Treasurer of Pocono or the Treasurer's
designee is hereby appointed as the designated officer authorized
to carry out the duties and responsibilities set forth in this section.
D.
Limitation of actions. Nothing in this section will be construed
to limit the ability of the Township to recover any deficiency by
lien, fine or action at law or in equity. Furthermore, nothing in
this subsection shall be construed to prohibit the Township and the
named insured from entering into an agreement that permits the transfer
of funds to the named insured if some other reasonable disposition
of the damaged property has been negotiated.
E.
Rules and regulations. The Board of Commissioners may by resolution
adopt procedures and regulations to implement Section 508 of the Insurance
Law and this chapter and may by resolution fix reasonable fees to
be charged for municipal activities or services provided pursuant
to the Insurance Law and this chapter, including but not limited to
issuance of certificates and bills, performance of inspections and
opening separate fund accounts.
F.
Penalties for violations. Any owner of property, any named insured or any insuring agent who or which violates any provision of § 230-3 of this chapter shall, upon a judicial determination thereof pursuant to proceedings before a Magisterial District Judge in the same manner provided for the enforcement of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, be fined the sum of $1,000 per violation, plus costs, and, in default of payment, imprisonment to the extent allowed by law for the punishment of summary offenses. All such sums shall be paid to the Township of Pocono. Each day of noncompliance shall constitute a separate offense.
A.
Designation of nuisance. The occurrence of unfriendly fires; hazardous
material, petroleum and chemical-type spills and releases; vehicular
accidents involving fire, personal injury or loss of life; and the
unexpected collapse of wells, trenches, buildings and sinkholes requiring
rescues or otherwise threatening life, property or the environment,
are each declared to be public nuisances and are hereby declared to
be emergency incidents.
B.
Liability of responsible party/parties. The responsible parties shall
be liable for and shall reimburse the Township for all or part of
the direct and indirect emergency service costs incurred or expended
by any emergency response agency for labor, materials and/or equipment
used in connection with any emergency incident.
C.
Cost billing and collection procedure.
(1)
The Township Treasurer shall assemble/compile a bill of costs for
each emergency incident as follows:
(a)
Within 30 days after rendering services in connection with an
emergency incident, or as soon thereafter as possible, the chief operating
officer of each involved emergency response agency shall submit to
the Township Treasurer, or his/her designee, an itemized bill of costs
calculated in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
(b)
The Township Treasurer shall review all such bills of cost,
correct any errors or duplications and compile a final documented
total bill of costs.
(2)
Upon compilation of a complete bill of costs, the Township Treasurer
shall, within 45 days of the emergency incident or as soon thereafter
as possible, render an itemized billing statement to the responsible
party/parties for the total amount of all submitted bills of costs,
plus 15% for administrative expense. In no event, however, shall the
submitted bills of costs exceed $500 for any single emergency response
agency in connection with any single emergency incident.
(3)
If the responsible parties have not paid the bill of costs within
45 days from the date the same was rendered/billed, the Township Treasurer
shall take appropriate enforcement and collection actions against
the responsible party/parties.
(4)
The Township may enforce this chapter by having its solicitor file
a civil action(s) against any responsible parties in any court of
competent jurisdiction for the recovery of any or all emergency service
costs.
(5)
As an alternative to the foregoing procedure, the chief executive
officer of any emergency response agency which responded to an emergency
incident may prepare or cause to be prepared an itemized bill of costs
compiled in accordance with this chapter for his or her emergency
response agency only and submit the same directly to a responsible
party/parties for payment or submission for third-party payment. However,
any emergency response agency which elects to submit a direct cost
billing to a responsible party/parties shall not, without the consent
of the Board of Commissioners of the Township, thereafter be entitled
to submit such cost billing to the Township for collection efforts
in the event of nonpayment, partial payment or dispute concerning
responsibility for payment or the amount of the cost billing.
D.
Disbursement of recovered costs. All moneys received and/or recovered
by the Township under the provisions of this chapter in connection
with an emergency incident shall be deposited in a special Township
emergency service cost recovery account and, upon completion of cost
recovery efforts, the Township Treasurer shall disburse the funds
recovered as follows:
(1)
Fifteen percent of the total funds recovered shall be allocated and
disbursed to the Township General Fund to reimburse the Township for
the administrative costs incurred in effectuating and administering
the recovery of emergency service costs, except that if the Township
refers a bill of costs to its Solicitor for collection, the Township
shall be reimbursed, in addition to the aforesaid 15% of the total
funds recovered, the full amount of all legal services, costs and
fees incurred in connection with the legal services performed by its
Solicitor; and
(2)
The balance of the funds recovered shall be disbursed with explanation
to each emergency response agency which submitted a bill of costs,
in proportion to the amounts of each such bill of costs which was
recoverable and recovered, and if the total amount recovered was less
than the full amount of the total of the bills of costs, the disbursement
to each emergency response agency shall be as determined appropriate
by the Township with explanation to each emergency response agency.
E.
This chapter
shall not be construed to require reimbursement to the Township for
those municipal services normally provided to the Township residents
and others as a matter of the Township's general operating procedure
and for which the levying of taxes or for which the demand for reimbursement
is normally made under the provisions of other Township ordinances.[1]
A.
Alarm registration/installation requirements.
(1)
Within 60 days from the effective date of this chapter, every owner
or lessee of an alarm shall register the same with the Pocono Township
Police Department, on forms provided by the Township. Such registration
shall include but not necessarily be limited to the following information:
(a)
The name, residence and telephone number of the owner or lessee.
(b)
The address where the device is installed and the telephone
number of that address. In the case of a multiple building/premises
site at which an alarm will be installed, the owner or lessee shall
also provide information concerning how the alarm for each building/premises
will be distinguishable from other alarms at the other buildings/premises.
(c)
The names, addresses and telephone numbers of at least two persons
who are authorized to respond to an alarm and gain access to the address
where the device is installed.
(d)
The name, address and phone number of the installer of the alarm.
(e)
Any applicable registration fee as established from time to
time by the Board of Commissioners.
(f)
In the event an owner or lessee of an alarm is currently registered
and is the holder of a valid alarm permit issued by the Township pursuant
to Pocono Township Ordinance No. 42[1] and all of the information provided as part of that registration
is current and correct, it shall not be necessary for that owner or
lessee to reregister as a result of the enactment of this chapter.
[1]
Editor's Note: Ord. No. 42, Alarm System, was superseded by
the ordinance adopting this chapter.
(2)
After the enactment of this chapter, owners or lessees must equip
alarms with timing mechanisms that will disengage the alarm after
a maximum period of 30 minutes. Alarms without such timing mechanism
shall be unlawful in the Township and must be equipped with a timing
mechanism or disconnected by the owner or lessee within 60 days from
the effective date of this chapter.
(3)
Within 60 days after the effective date of this chapter, all persons
owning or operating existing or new automatic protection devices that
transmit recorded messages directly to an emergency communication
center shall contact the Monroe County Control Center for the proper
transmission procedure.
(4)
In the event any of the information provided as part of the registration
shall change, the owner or lessee shall provide corrected information
to the Pocono Township Police Department, in writing, within five
days of the change.
(5)
All information furnished pursuant to these sections shall be kept
confidential, shall not be subject to public inspection and shall
be solely for the use of the emergency response agencies and Monroe
County Control Center.
B.
Alarm operation requirements. Alarms installed in the Township that
are keyed to an assigned trunk line in the Monroe County Control Center
shall meet the following requirements:
(1)
No more than two calls shall be made to the Monroe County Control
Center as a result of a single activation of the automatic protection
device.
(2)
The sensory mechanisms used in conjunction with an automatic protection
device must be adjusted to suppress false indications of fire or intrusion,
so that the device will not be activated by impulses due to fleeting
pressure changes in water pipes, short flashes of light, rattling
or vibrating of doors and windows, vibrations to the premises caused
by the passing of vehicles, weather extremes or any other similar
force not related to emergencies requiring protection.
(3)
All components comprising an automatic protection device must be
maintained by the owner or lessee in good repair to assure maximum
reliability of operation.
(4)
Each owner or lessee shall be required to provide external visible
and legible identification of the installing company on the protected
structure on or near the main entrance. This identification shall
include a twenty-four-hour emergency telephone number where someone
can be reached to deactivate the system.
C.
Automatic protection devices: technical information. Each installer
who sells or leases an automatic protection device in the Township
which is keyed to an emergency communication center or intermediary,
after the effective date of this chapter, shall furnish to the owner
or lessee a set of operating instructions; a circuit diagram; a maintenance
manual; and written information as to how service may be obtained,
including a telephone number of the installer or agent responsible
for service.
D.
Automatic protection devices; repair service.
(1)
Each installer who installs an automatic protection device in the
Township shall make service available to the owner or lessee of the
same, directly or through an agent, within 24 hours of a request by
such owner or lessee for repair or service. Such service shall be
made available to such owner or lessee at his or her election and
expense.
(2)
The owner or lessee of an automatic protection device shall be responsible
for having any device rendering a false alarm disconnected or repaired
within one hour of the commencement of the first such false alarm.
E.
Automatic protection devices: disconnection. When messages evidencing
failure to comply with the operational requirements set forth in any
section of this chapter are received by the Monroe County Control
Center, the automatic protection device sending such messages shall
be disconnected in order to relieve the emergency service providers
from responding to false alarms. Any designated Township code enforcement
officer is hereby authorized to demand that the owner or lessee of
the device, or his representative, disconnect the device until it
is made to comply with the operational requirements hereof.
F.
Registration and user fees.
(1)
The Board of Commissioners may establish reasonable registration
fees for registrations and installations following the enactment of
this chapter.
(2)
Each property owner or lessee utilizing any alarm (excepting public
institutions) shall be charged a fee for service by the Township for
the fourth, and each subsequent, false alarm which occurs in any consecutive
twelve-month period and results in action by an emergency response
agency. Public institutions utilizing any alarm shall be charged a
fee for service for the sixth, and each subsequent, false alarm which
occurs in any consecutive twelve-month period. The user fees shall
be assessed as follows:[2]
(3)
If any property owner desires to appeal from the imposition of any
fee for service, the appeal shall be directed, in writing, to the
Board of Commissioners within 30 days of the date the fee is assessed
or imposed.
G.
Penalty and remedies for violation.
(1)
This chapter shall be enforced by action brought before a Magisterial District Judge in the same manner provided for the enforcement of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure. Any person, partnership, corporation or other entity who or which violates or permits a violation of any provision of § 230-5 of this chapter shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding, pay a fine of not more than $1,000, plus the costs of prosecution, and, in default of the payment of the fine and costs of prosecution, shall be imprisoned for a period not exceeding 30 days. All such sums shall be paid to the Township of Pocono.[3]
(2)
In the event that more than three false alarms resulting in action
by emergency response agencies are received within any 12 consecutive
months from any alarm, the owner, lessee or user of such alarm shall,
upon a judicial determination thereof pursuant to proceedings before
a Magisterial District Judge in the same manner provided for the enforcement
of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure,
be fined $100 for the first offense; $200 for the second offense;
$300 for the third and each subsequent offense, plus costs, and, in
default of payment, imprisonment to the extent allowed by law for
the punishment of summary offenses. All such sums shall be paid to
the Township of Pocono. Each false alarm in excess of three within
12 months, or, in the case of a public institution, each false alarm
in excess of five within 12 months, shall constitute a separate violation
and shall be deemed a separate offense.[4]
Upon adoption of this chapter, an exact copy of § 230-3 hereof shall be filed with the Pennsylvania Department of Community Affairs,[1] or its successor, together with the name, position and
phone number of the Township Treasurer, as required by 40 P.S. § 638(i).
[1]
Editor's Note: Now Department of Community and Economic Development.
