Many Bellevue residents received letters this month alerting them to overdue accounts and fines stemming from the city’s much maligned false alarm program – charges that were all false, but which residents have had difficulty remedying.
“I was really upset about that. … This really doesn’t make sense,” said Bellevue resident Lyndon Kestyus, who received a notice saying his account was overdue, despite him having called the alarm program management company earlier in the summer to register.
Under an ordinance passed by the city council in December 2014, Bellevue is requiring all alarm owners to register with the city’s independent contractor in order to monitor false alarm activations. Residents are required to pay an annual $25 registration fee — $12 for seniors and the disabled — and a $100 or greater fine for a false alarm.
The Public Safety Corporation is managing the program and created the program being used by the city called CryWolf.
Within the last week, a number of citizens received invoices alerting them to delinquent accounts and resulting fines. The conflicting information from the city and the management company concerning the fines has left residents confused and angry.
Kestyus, for example, received a three-page letter reporting that his account was 60 days overdue and that he had been charged a $100 fine. In addition, he also was being charged the $25 registration fee, despite the fact that he and his wife qualify for the senior rate.
While the Bellevue Police say that citizens should not yet be accumulating fines, a CryWolf representative said that the letters were not sent out falsely.
The city’s false alarm ordinance was not scheduled to begin implementation until Oct. 1, after which residents would have a 30-day grace period, meaning that residents who had not registered their systems should only have received fines beginning next month. Invoices with late fees should not have been sent out, according to Bellevue Police Det. Amanda Jensen.
“Nobody should be getting those letters at this point,” Jensen said. “We had had a conversation with two CryWolf representatives two weeks ago and specifically discussed the time frame for implementation then, so I don’t know what happened… Clearly ithis is a between me and my program manager and the company.”
However, representatives from CryWolf said that wording of the city’s ordinance meant that implementation and charges overdue should have begun on Oct. 1, but that they will now be granting citizens more time to register. They also said that the city verified the letters they sent out, although Jensen said those were preapproved form letters whose usage was not specified.
Although it is unknown at this time how many residents received letters, Jensen told the Reporter she had spent all of Monday answering calls and emails regarding the letters.
Adding to the confusion are communication problems and a lack of information reported by residents.
Residents calling the Public Safety Corporation to fix their incorrect account statements, including Kestyus, first found that their phone calls were almost immediately disconnected, and later that they would ring multiple times and disconnect without going to a voice mailbox. Calls made to the phone number listed on CryWolf’s webpage for Bellevue False Alarm Reduction Program were answered by Oct. 13.
The Public Safety Corporation did not respond to multiple requests by the Reporter for comment, and their phone line continued to bypass a voicemail option through Oct. 14.
Jensen said she has been in communication with CryWolf and hopes to have the account issue resolved and letters explaining the situation sent out soon.
Allison DeAngelis: 425-453-4290; adeangelis@bellevuereporter.com
