POCOMOKE CITY -- With fire alarms and fire control taking up much of the Pocomoke City mayor and council's meeting this week, the council voted to pass an ordinance that would impose penalties for false fire alarms.If a person is found guilty of intentionally activating a signal in a nonemergency situation, he or she will be given a fine of up to $500 or imprisonment or both.
A property owner or occupant will be allowed three responses to alarms within a 30-day period or eight responses in a 12-month period because of negligent or accidental activation of the alarm. Any responses in excess of the above numbers would subject the user to a $30 penalty for each false alarm.
Once the user receives a written notice, sent out by the police department, fire company or ambulance service, that the user has a defective alarm, he or she will not be allowed to use the alarm. Anyone violating this provision could be given a fine of up to $500 or given 90 days in jail or both.
Worcester County Fire Marshal Jeff McMahon also presented the benefits of having sprinkler systems installed in single-family residences. A new state law calling for any new single-family homes built after Jan. 1, 2011, to have sprinkler systems will go into effect unless the council votes to opt out of the regulation.
McMahon said it would cost $1.61 per square foot or much less to install a sprinkler system in a new home, adding there could be an additional cost if there were no water source, such as a town system.
In other action, the mayor and council moved a step closer to the beginning of construction of a restaurant between the Delmarva Discovery Center and the Pocomoke River with the signing of an agreement with the Worcester County Commissioners for a $500,000 block grant.
This federal grant will come through the commissioners.
9 comments:
Got a few problems with this meeting!!
1. The MAYOR & COUNCIL tried to push an ordinance for even an accidental or a 'test' of an alarm to be fined. There are no distinctions at all. Our government has become all about making money and labeling the homeowners as 'criminals'. They also stated at this meeting this applied only to business owners and at a prior meeting, there was a high number of false alarms. Oh really, are you talking about ones that go off and then immediately are turned off that don't require any response. So you want now to be paid for not 'responding'? Sorry, no the city wants $$$$$ from the Pocomoke Fire Department!!! and to 'tie' the two together??? And you can get notice from the city, the fire department and/or the ambulance company (WTF??) So you get THREE BILLS?????
2. The MAYOR & COUNCIL didn't pass any ordinance regarding sprinklers (didn't have the balls to opt out) and the county ordinance stated clearly 'a municipality could opt out'.
3. The MAYOR & COUNCIL got a $500,000. check from the Governor's office to 'break ground'. Now they get an additional block grant of $500,000. through the Commissioners??
Dang, that's ONE MILLION DOLLARS FOR A BUILDING THAT AIN'T BROKE GROUND YET!!!!! AND WERE HOLDING HALF OF IT FOR OVER 3 YEARS!!!!
WHERE IS ALL THE MONEY MAYOR????
All this from a politician who claimed he didn't like 'BIG GOVERNMENT'.
so much for the friendliest town on the eastern shore!
now all they want to do is tax and fine you!
Mayor can't pass enough bull crap piece of legislation before he gets out of office.
and he 'preached' he was against TAX, TAX, TAX AND MORE TAX AND HE DIDN'T LIKE BIG GOVERNMENT.
He doesn't 'practice what he preaches'.
guess what 9:11 pm, he never has!
Just look at that belly!
I don't understand how this can always be the fault of the Mayors. And it isn't. Doesn't Pocomoke still have the council to do the voting? That being so then it can only be blamed on the council.
Instead of worrying about sprinklers in NEW dwellings I'd worry about the fire hazzards in the older dwellings that have been converted into muti family living quarters.
Wouldn't it make more sense that if somone were to build a new home that the owners would be more concerned about building an energy efficient one? I am sure new homes burn too but I don't remember seeing a new home burn in Pocomoke recently. I've seen cars, sheds, and older homes burn.
A sprinkler system in a new home should be an option for the person lucky enough to build a home in this day and time. What if the sprinler set up needs city water? Will there be an extra fee? There has to be money behind this some where.
I would think the city would want to concentrate on see more homes built that are more energy efficient. And I don't think this law has the homeowner's saftey in mind.
I agree there has to be money behind this somewhere. I think the fine can be imposed according to this, a fee from the city, a fee from the fire department, and another fee from the ambulance company. There's your money behind it.
I also agree that who can build a new home these days? Do you know just a few years ago the majority of people moving into Worcester County were the elderly population. Does anyone think they can afford another $25,000.00 added to the cost of their home.
In my opinion, this discourages building! From what I read in the worcester county ordinance, this would apply to renovating too. According to our town council, this would not be in this ordinance.
Yes, the council votes, BUT the MAYOR has VETO POWER!
Have you ever once seen the Mayor use this? Wonder why?
The Mayor sure does have the power to veto if he does not agree with the council vote. It's a pretty sure think he's not going to use his veto power if no one attends the meetings and speaks out.....or at least tries to.
Does anyone know why the urgency for the sprinklers in new homes?
They say it's a safety issue, jmmb. I say it's an accident waiting to happen. Just Google sprinkler malfunction and see how much damage is caused by these things.
I personally know of someone who was denied insurance on valuable antique furniture and art BECAUSE her condo had a sprinker system in it.
I believe what you are saying. Here's my beef! I DO NOT need ONE more LAW to enforce anything. I consider myself to be a responsible person. And so are many other people. Every time the working person turns around there is just one more law that someone thinks we need.
If I burn my house down because of stupidity then shame on me. Stop putting your noses in peoples business because you "think" we might need another law that will in turn cost the taxpayer more money....It's not for saving lives.
I agree!!! Do we need to start a petition drive????? How many days do we have to get signatures???
I will personally do it if we figure out how many signatures we need. This one and the false fire alarm one needs to be challenged!!!
TOO MUCH BIG GOVERNMENT!!!!
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