KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE You can read all of our articles on our website. Having trouble getting our emails? Change your spam controls and whitelist ken@kirschenbaumesq.com ********************** Municipality Paying for Monitoring for Private Building / Why you should be Concierge Client August 11, 2025 ************************ Municipality Paying for Monitoring for Private Building / Why you should be Concierge Client ************************ Ken, I am trying to figure out how to draft contracts for a unique situation in Texas. We have a client (city) where their downtown area is historic. Most all of the downtown buildings do/did not have a fire alarm system because they were grandfathered. In early 2011 there was a fire in one of the buildings (a restaurant). Each block consists of adjoining buildings of 2-6 buildings (different ownership on each) and they are connected to one another through a common wall. When the fire occurred, it migrated to the adjoining buildings and 3 buildings were a total loss (half a block burned to the ground). In response to that fire, the city initiated an ordinance to establish a TIRZ (Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone) district to help preserve the historic downtown area, and in that ordinance, they established a Downtown Fire Alarm Program. The Downtown Fire Alarm Program was initiated to entice the building owners to retrofit a fire alarm system (not to state code) where the city would pay for the monitoring, We have been monitoring all of these buildings/systems since 2011 and the contract is up for renewal and we are trying to figure out who should sign which contract. Our assumption is the city signs a contract for monitoring each system and each building owner signs a contract too. Also, what CYA wording should we use in the contract because the vast majority of these systems are not up to any kind of state fire code. I’ve been on your email list for a long time and I don’t recall a situation like this one. Thanks, anonymous ********************** Response ********************** This is an interesting question for the forum. Hopefully a fire alarm expert will be willing to provide the legal advice needed. What I was really thinking was, does this anonymous person expect these issues to be adequately analyzed and resolved, including the necessary contracts that may be required, by accepting the advice from other alarm companies, assuming they are willing to take their time to step into this mess? This is precisely why the K&K Concierge Program is so valuable to the alarm industry. You get expert legal advice and you are steered in the right direction for proper contracts that are needed for your scenario. First half hour each month is free, as are all the "quick questions" that come up throughout the month. The above is obviously not a quick question. Commercial fire alarms lend themselves to leasing because once a system is in and approved, it generally remains compliant even though out of current codes, which change over time. One question here is whether the fire will permit the old firm alarm to be re-installed [assuming that's even possible] because building destruction from fire sometimes will allow grandfathered building specs to remain when the building is restored. I suspect this is very limited and may not even apply in a fire alarm situation. Years ago K&K was involved in a zoning dispute and a restaurant grandfathered in was allowed to restore a building and continue using it as a restaurant as long as the restoration and operations were done within a year of the fire, which it was in this case. If a fire alarm to current code is required then that's what has to be installed. The owner of the property is the proper subscriber, and the only proper contract is the Fire Alarm All in One, in sale or lease format. Continued use of the contract from 2011, whatever that looks like, is certainly not the proper contract. So, Mr Anonymous the first thing I suggest is that you join the Concierge Program and the second is that you get new Kirschenbaum Contracts TM and the third thing is that you use and take advantage of the first and second suggestions. ***********************
