A revision to a city ordinance clarifying expectations for existing restaurants on how to keep grease out of the city wastewater system was slowed down Monday night.

City officials introduced the proposal Monday, but councilman Ron Shoemaker warned of far-reaching ramifications, pointed to problems seen in another city and asked for time to hear the perspective of local restaurateurs.

Council agreed to table the proposal and was joined by Mayor Joe Thallemer in extending an invitation to businesses to attend the next meeting – May 7 – to hear their thoughts.

The ordinance spells out expectations for current food establishments and for ones that experience expansion or a change in ownership in the future.

The ordinance, which covers the subject commonly known as fats, oil and grease, has existing penalties but the proposal does not address or add on to those.

City Utility Manager Brian Davison said the ordinance essentially creates standards and expectations for the businesses and that it is an attempt to protect the city’s wastewater utility  infrastructure from grease infiltration, which can clog lines and damage machinery.

Restaurants typically use either a grease trap or a more expensive interceptor to store grease, which is then supposed to be removed and taken to a qualified handler.

Many of the downtown restaurants have traps instead of interceptors because of the lack of room needed to accommodate an interceptor, which is essentially often an underground vault.



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Most restaurant operators have been understanding and cooperative, Davison said. Two future restaurants along U.S. 30 have complied and so did Cozy Cottage on Market Street when the owners recently expanded.

Davison said they looked at ordinances from Fort Wayne, Muncie and Goshen in crafting the changes.

But Shoemaker pointed to a city “to the north” that has had problems, which Davison appeared to also reference during the meeting. Afterward, Shoemaker confirmed he was talking about the city of Elkhart, which adjusted its ordinance and included fines several years ago and had lingering compliance issues and complaints.

“I’d like to have some time to hear from restaurants,” Shoemaker said. “This is a pretty far-reaching ordinance. It maybe sets up the possibility of selective enforcement even after we’re gone.”

Specifically, council wants to know how many restaurants are in the city and how many are not in compliance.

Davison said the biggest problem often involves restaurants being constructed in buildings not originally designed for food establishments.

Businesses in that situation would need to provide a plan on how to accommodate the ordinance, he said.

Davison said they have encouraged existing businesses that use a lot of grease to install an interceptor.

“Whatever system you have in, we just want you to maintain it so it works,” Davison said. “That’s what we’re after with this ordinance.”

Compliance with newly constructed food establishments is pretty standard, Davison said.