Article 1. Volunteer Fire Department

7-101.        Fire department.

(a)   Volunteer department established. All members of the fire department except the fire chief shall be volunteers appointed by the mayor with the consent of council.

(b)   Fire chief.

(1)   Appointment; compensation. The mayor, with the consent of the council, shall appoint at the first regular meeting of the city council in May of each year a fire chief who shall have general supervisory authority over the city fire department. Compensation of the fire chief shall be established in a resolution by the city council.

(2)   Chief to be supervised by city administrator.

(3)   Chief’s duty. The fire chief shall be under the supervision of the city administrator. The chief of the fire department shall be responsible for the discipline of members and is hereby given the authority to suspend or expel any member for the refusal to obey orders, or for misconduct or failure to do his duty at a fire.

       The chief of the fire department shall have full power, control, and over all persons whomsoever present at fires, and they shall direct the use of all fire apparatus and equipment and command all firefighters in this discharge of their duties. The chief shall also be the safety and protection officer on the department. He shall take such measures as he may deem necessary in the preservation and protection of property and the extinguishment of fire.

       The chief of the fire department shall keep in convenient form a complete record of all fires. Such information shall include time and location, construction of the building, owner, occupancy, how extinguished, value of content, loss on building and contents, insurance on building and contents, members responding to the alarm, and any other information deemed advisable.

       The Chief of the department shall adopt all prudent measures for the prevention of fires and for this purpose he or his command staff, upon request or whenever he has reason to believe that the safety of life and property demands it, and as often as he may deem necessary, enter any building, yard, premises in the Clearwater Fire Departments response area during reasonable hours for the purpose of inspection, and where dangerous, unsafe, or hazardous condition are found to exist, he shall give such directions for the alteration, change or removal or better care or management of the same as he may deem proper, and such direction shall be obeyed and completed with by the person directed in that regard at their expense.

       The chief shall establish a set of by-laws to be approved by the governing body for the volunteer fire department and review them annually and make suggestions to council as needed.

7-102.        Chief medical officer.

(a)   Appointment; compensation. The mayor, with the consent of the council, shall appoint at the first regular meeting of the city council in May of each year a chief medical officer for the readiness of any medical equipment and medications that are in use on the fire department. Compensation of the chief medical officer shall be established in a resolution by the city council.

(b)   Chief medical officer to be supervised by the fire chief.

(c)   Chief’s medical officer’s duty.

The chief medical officer of the fire department will maintain, get repaired, or replace any medical equipment that is used on the fire department.

The chief medical officer of the fire department will replace any medications that are about to expire, are damaged, or used.

The chief medical officer of the department will compile all patient care reports, enter the patient care reports into the appropriate reporting software, and secure the reports following HIPAA requirements.

The chief medical officer of the department will be the HIPAA Compliance officer and point of contact for any patient record request.

The chief medical officer of the department or his designee will provide all continued medical education to its members of the department. Only the CMO will maintain all continued education paperwork and its requirements for the Kansas Board of EMS for training.

In the absence of the fire chief, the chief medical officer (CMO) shall perform, and share with the assistant fire chief, all the duties and have all the authority and responsibility of the fire chief.

7-103.        False alarm fee and disputes.

(a)   Except as otherwise provided in this section, an alarm user to which law enforcement personnel or fire personnel are requested to respond to a false alarm, shall be charged a false alarm fee. The alarm user shall be assessed the following fees for each false alarm:

Graduated false alarm fees will be based only on the same type of previous false alarm. No response fee shall be charged for the first false alarm, regardless of type, each registration year.

False alarms resulting from the following shall not be counted against the alarm user and no response fee shall be charged:

(1)   When it is reasonable to assume that the alarm was due to violent conditions of nature including an electrical storm which have been verified by the National Weather Service to have been in the area where the alarm system is located at the time of the activation;

(2)   Cable, line or power failure which has been specifically verified by the appropriate utility company serving the alarm location;

(3)   For those alarms where the communications center is notified within four minutes of receipt of notification of the alarm that fire personnel are not required;

(4)   For those alarms resulting from valid situations requiring an urgent response by law enforcement, fire or emergency medical personnel as verified by a report filed by such personnel; or

(5)   For those alarms received from a medical alarm system;

(6)   For alarms from governmental building alarm systems.

(b)   Should a disagreement arise over whether any false alarm fee or administrative penalty should be assessed, the facts surrounding the circumstances of the alarm activation shall, within 30 calendar days of the date of the first invoice for the alarm, be presented in writing by the alarm user, along with a $10.00 administrative fee for each false alarm being disputed, to the city clerk. The city clerk shall promptly forward the written fee dispute to the department head that originally assess the fine. The chief of police or fire chief shall, after consideration of all the information presented, determine whether a false alarm fee should be assessed. In the event of determination that no false alarm fee should be assessed, the $10.00 administrative fee shall be refunded to the alarm user or alarm business, provided the alarm user does not have any other outstanding fees owed. Failure to submit an appeal within 30 calendar days of notification shall constitute a waiver of the right to contest the assessment of the fees or penalties.

(c)   If disagreement still exists after consideration by the chief of police or the fire chief, the facts surrounding the alarm activation shall be presented to the city administrator who shall, after consideration of all the information presented, determine whether a false alarm fee should be assessed. All such disagreements must be presented in writing by the alarm user or alarm business to the city administrator within 30 days after the date of notification of the chief of police’s or fire chief’s determination that a false alarm fee is due as a result of the particular alarm being questioned; otherwise, the determination that the fee is due shall be deemed correct.

(d)   In making the determinations required by subsections (c) and (d) of this section, the chief of police, the fire chief, or the city administrator shall consider the following, if presented, in addition to all other information presented:

(1)   The alarm user’s history of valid and false alarms;

(2)   Violent conditions of nature, including electrical storms, existing at the time of the activation;

(3)   Other circumstances not reasonably subject to control by the alarm user or alarm business;

(4)   Information from utility companies concerning cable, line or power failures or problems;

(5)   Information from law enforcement, fire or emergency medical personnel who responded to the alarm activation; and

(6)   The presence or absence of any direct or indirect evidence that a situation requiring an urgent response existed at the time of the alarm activation.

(e)   The false alarm fee or administrative penalty under this section shall be due and payable to the alarm administrator or a designated representative within 30 days after receipt of notification that such fee is due. Further, if the fee is not paid within 60 days of such notification, a late fee in the amount of $10.00 per alarm call shall be added to the amount due. An additional late fee of $10.00 will be assessed on each false alarm fee which remains unpaid 90 days following notification. After 90 days, following notice to the alarm user, the account may be turned over for collection. The city attorney is authorized to use any legal means to recover the administrative penalties and fees assessed by this section.