The City Commission on Wednesday unanimously excused Commissioner Dean Lovelace’s absence for a 12th time after hearing a report of his condition.

Commissioner Joey Williams said he found Lovelace alert and aware of what was going on in the community and with the commission when he visited him Friday.

With Lovelace’s permission, Williams talked about a fall Lovelace took in August that has prevented him from attending commission meetings. “It shocked his system, and he was in intense pain,” Williams said. He said Lovelace was making progress and expected to be back at meetings by January or sooner.

“He’s been meeting with staff on the coming budget. … I think it is fair and appropriate that we continue excusing his absences,” Williams said.

Mayor Gary Leitzell brought up Lovelace’s absences last week when he voted not to excuse him , saying the commission had to make a decision on how to handle long-term absences. The City Charter requires the removal of a commissioner after three consecutive unexcused absences.

Leitzell later said there would be more discussions on the possible use of technology to allow Lovelace to be part of commission discussions. Under state law, Lovelace could not vote because he would not be physically present.

In other business, the commissioners approved a $75,000 grant from the city’s economic development fund to Composite Advantage to help with building improvements and the purchase of equipment for a new facility at 1933 Troy St. with the company pledging to create 35 new full-time jobs and retain 25 current full-time jobs.

During the work session prior to the meeting, Police Chief Richard Biehl recommended the commissioners consider changing the city’s false burglar alarm ordinance to decrease the number of false alarms from residence or business before fines kick in.

The current ordinance allows two false alarms before a $50 fine kicks in at the third. The fine increases $50 for each subsequent false alarm, topping out at $250 on the seventh. The seventh false alarm also places the location on the do-not-respond list.

Biehl recommended the $50 fine begin at the second false alarm and increase in $50 increments, topping out at $200 and do-not-respond for the fifth false alarm.

“More and more, cities around the country don’t have the resources to waste,” Biehl said.

Officers have responded to 5,236 false alarms so far this year and expect that will top out around 6,640 by year’s end. That’s down from 7,526 in 2007, a drop of nearly 12 percent, according to department statistics. However, the percentage of all alarm calls that were false has steadily increased from 95.2 percent in 2007 to 98.1 percent predicted for this year.

No action was taken. The commissioners said they needed more information.