Downtown Clarkston businesses have caused thousands of dollars in ‘extraordinary maintenance? costs because of a failure to install and maintain grease traps, according to city officials.
In the future, responsible businesses will have to foot the bill, following action by the Clarkston City Council on Jan. 10.
The issue has been discussed at various times over the past six or seven years, but the hard line strategy was adopted after officials saw videotapes documenting grease discharge into the sanitary sewer system.
‘You’re going to start getting bills from Independence Township for extraordinary maintenance for these facilities,? said Gary Tressel, the city’s contracted engineer through Hubble, Roth and Clark. ‘This is an issue that has to be addressed. You have to have a mechanism to recover your money.?
The council sent an advisory letter several years ago, but City Manager Art Pappas said no one took responsibility for the problem.
‘People came in and said, ‘It’s not me, it’s the other guy,?? Pappas said. After recent meetings with the Independence Township Department of Public Works, however, there is no question.
‘We watched the videotape, and everybody’s the cause of it,? the city manager said.
‘It is happening throughout [downtown],? Tressel said. ‘Anyplace that processes food.?
Because of markings inside the sewer lines, a snake-like camera is able to record conditions at individual connections from local businesses and homes, officials said.
Tressel said the township DPW does maintenance checks every four to six weeks. The most recent sewer maintenance bill came in at $2,300, which is being paid from the city sewer fund. If the problem isn’t fixed, such bills could range from $5,000 to $10,000, and that isn’t the worst-case scenario.
‘They’re doing extraordinary maintenance because the discharge from these units is not being appropriately handled,? Tressel said. ‘The ultimate problem is going to be when someone discharges something that causes the sewage to back up into the basements of people upstream. They’re going to come to this body to pay to clean the mess up.?
The council voted to charge responsible businesses for the ‘extraordinary maintenance? (which requires the DPW to use acid to break up the grease buildup) and for any ‘consequential damage? to the sewer lines or property, caused by backups
Billing will be done based on the businesses? ‘residential equivalent unit,? which is also used to compute regular sewer charges.
Council members wanted to be kind in communicating the new policy, but agreed to hold businesses more accountable.
‘The problem is not unsolvable,? Mayor Sharron Catallo said.