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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-02-02; Fats, Oils and Grease Program Enforcement (Districts - All); Gomez, PazTo the members of the: CITY COUNCIL Da~~/123CA ✓ CC ✓ CM A M_1L'LKM(3)~ Council Memorandum February 2, 2023 To: From: Honorable Mayor Blackburn and Members of the City Council Paz Gomez, Deputy City Manager, Public Works Geoff Patnoe, Assistant City Manager@ Via: Re: Fats, Oils and Grease Program Enforcement (Districts -All) {city of Carlsbad Memo ID# 2023012 This memorandum provides information related to upcoming enforcement activities at food service facilities for violation of the city's Fats, Oils and Grease {FOG) control program. Background The City of Carlsbad has a FOG control program that is required by and was developed pursuant to State Water Resources Control Board {SWRCB) Order No. 2006-0003 {Order). The Order stipulates that the city must have a Sewer System Management Plan {SSMP) that describes how the city will comply with the requirements of the Order in its sewer service area. The city provides sewer services to approximately 74% of the city. A FOG control program is one of the required elements of the SSMP. The city's current SSMP was approved by the City Council in 2019 and outlines the city's plan for reducing FOG in the sewer service area, including legal authority and enforcement. Because the SWRCB considers the discharge of FOG into the sewer system to be one of the leading causes of sewer spills, the purpose of the program is to reduce these discharges, thereby reducing or eliminating sewer spills that are caused by FOG. The requirements of the city's FOG program that are outlined in the SSMP are also identified in the Carlsbad Municipal Code {CMC) Chapter 13 .06. The city's FOG control program currently applies to food service facilities as they are considered to generate the most FOG on a regular basis. Food service facilities can be restaurants, churches, retirement homes and other commercial entities that meet the definition of a food service facility as defined in CMC Chapter 13.04. The city's FOG control program is multifaceted and consists of requirements such as grease control device installation, periodic cleaning and recordkeeping requirements, and increased sewer main cleaning in areas with restaurants. From an enforcement standpoint, the city has historically conducted outreach and annual inspections of food service facilities, which include recommended corrective actions to comply with the CMC. The main goal of the city's FOG control program is to work with these establishments to get them to voluntarily conduct Public Works Branch Utilities Department 5950 El Camino Real I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 442-339c2722 t Council Memo -Fats, Oils and Grease Program Enforcement (Districts -All) February 2, 2023 Page 2 maintenance and follow best management practices to reduce the amount of FOG they discharge to the city's sewer system. While the city has FOG enforcement authority for violations of CMC Chapters 13.04 and 13.06, the city prefers to get voluntary compliance when possible. Per CMC Chapter 13.06, food service facilities are required to clean their sewer lateral annually and clean their grease interceptor at a frequency such that the combined FOG and solids accumulation does not exceed 25% of the total design hydraulic depth of the grease interceptor. They are also required to comply with best management practices during food preparation, food waste disposal and the cleaning of pots, pans, dishware and work areas. The Utilities Department sends an inspector out annually to each food service facility in its sewer service area to determine whether the establishment is complying with the CMC. An inspection form is filled out that identifies whether the establishment is compliant and, if not, provides information on what is non-compliant and what can be done to bring the establishment into compliance. The inspection form is signed by the inspector and the food service facility contact, and a copy is given to the facility contact. The food service facility is given 30 days to correct any non-compliant issues. After 30 days, if the establishment is still non-compliant, the CMC allows for various enforcement actions. Discussion To date, the Utilities Department has been trying to get voluntary FOG compliance from the city's food service facilities through outreach and education. Historically after the initial inspection and recommended corrective actions, the city did not follow up to encourage facilities to perform the maintenance activities and to submit their records. Data show that about 50% of the food service establishments in the city's sewer service area provide the required records and are determined to be compliant on the day of the inspection. The number of food service establishments in Carlsbad's sewer service area changes each year, but the 50% compliance rate is consistent. In 2022, staff performed 241 inspections with 121 food service establishments in compliance. The SWRCB has the authority to audit the city's implementation of its SSMP and compliance with Order No. 2006-0003 at any time and can issue a Notice of Violation (NOV), along with potential fines, to the city. Staff have been diligently trying to close gaps in the SSMP over the last couple of years. The city is required to perform a self-audit of the SSMP every two years. The last two audits have been completed by outside consultants that noted that the FOG control program compliance rate should be increased. There was a recommendation in both audits that the city consider process improvements including enforcement, which is stated as a part of the city's required process in the SSMP. For the 2022 inspections, the Utilities Department made some changes to improve voluntary compliance. Visits were made to new food service establishments in advance of the annual inspection to inform them of the requirements of the FOG control program in case they were unaware. Staff moved to electronic inspections, and inspection forms were emailed to the food Council Memo -Fats, Oils and Grease Program Enforcement (Districts -All) February 2, 2023 Page 3 service establishment contacts immediately after the inspection instead of leaving paper copies. An email address for the FOG control program was created as well, giving food service establishments a specific email address to send their required records/documents. Many food service establishments emailed their documents within 30'days after their inspection, which brought the city's sewer service area's FOG compliance rate to 70%. Finally, a courtesy reminder email was sent to the non-compliant establishments outlining their outstanding CMC violations and letting them know that the city is preparing to issue NOVs to those establishments that remain out of compliance. Based on the response so far, staff estimate that the compliance rate will increase to 80%. The process improvements that have been made to date have been successful in increasing voluntary compliance. However, there are still about 50 food service establishments in the city's sewer service area that remain non-compliant and have not responded to the courtesy reminder em_ails. Most of these food service establishments have been consistently non-compliant over the last few years of FOG control program inspections. Next Steps Staff will send out NOVs to the remaining non-compliant food service establishments starting February 6, 2023. For the first year of enforcement actions, NOVs will only be issued for missing sewer lateral cleaning and grease trap pumping documentation, as these two requirements have the biggest impact on the reduction of lateral overflows and the reduction ofthe amount of grease discharged to the sewer system . . The food service establishments that receive NOVs will have 30 days to submit documentation to correct the cited CMC violations. Courtesy compliance date reminders will be sent out about halfway through that period. At the end of the 30-day period, if any businesses remain non- com pliant, administrative citations will be issued for each violation. The administrative citation fines will be the same as those issued by Code Enforcement: $100 per violation for the first citation, $200 per violation for the second citation (if needed), and $500 per violation for the third citation (if needed). The NOV and administrative citation process will comply with CMC Chapter 1.10. Staff expect that issuing NOVs will result in additional businesses coming into compliance without the need for an administrative citation, and there would be a higher initial compliance rate for the 2023 inspections. cc: Scott Chadwick, City Manager Cindie McMahon, City Attorney Laura Rocha, Deputy City Manager, Administrative Services Zach Korach, Finance Director Vicki Quiram, Utilities Director Marissa Kawecki, Deputy City Attorney Jesse Castaneda, Utilities Superintendent