Highlands and Ravines
Where's the (Fire) Alarm?
The cost of fire safety just doubled for hundreds of Highland Park businesses and residents.
For several hundred Highland Park businesses and residents, the cost of fire safety just went up. On Nov. 26, the City of Highland Park approved a new contract with Tyco, including a new fee structure, for fire monitoring service. The request for the new contract came from Fire Chief Pat Tanner and Deputy Chief of Police George Pfutzenreuter. The city's new contract requires those with city-connected fire alarm monitoring -- most of whom are required to do so by law -- to pay the city's existing annual fee of $325 for for each alarm box, plus a new mandatory maintenance fee of $147. This is an increase of almost 50 percent. The maintenance contract services only one component of the system -- the radio transmitter. Chief Tanner's stated …
In this Article:
David Greenberg
9:03 pm on Thursday, January 10, 2013
This whole Ordinance seems onerous to be certain. Forcing one to sign a contract to pay an essentially uncapped amount seems to be an illegal taking under the 5th Amendment. And it's not the least intrusive method of resolving the issue. False alarms are a pain and diversion of resources to be certain, so why not consider something like this: (all within a 1 yr calendar period) 1st False alarm - … more ›