The Environmental Health & Sustainability department respectfully requests approval of a revised department fee schedule via resolution. While updates are minor, they will clarify terminology, lower one fee and delete one fee from the schedule which is important for our businesses. Revisions are outlined below and a redlined version of the fee schedule is attached.
1) Delete the acronym “PHF” – this refers to the term “Potentially Hazardous Food” which is found in previous and outdated versions of the food code. The term was updated by the FDA to “Time/Temperature Control for Safety” food or “TCS” which refers to food that must be temperature controlled.
2) Delete the Industrial Pretreatment Annual Fee. We currently collect a monthly fee from these four businesses through their utility bill. This monthly fee covers the full cost of our contract with NTMWD to administer this program. The annual fee found in the fee schedule is duplicative and unneeded.
3) Change the term “Certificate of Occupancy (C/O) & Temporary T/C/O” to what our department describes as a permitting inspection. The department does not issue COs and we have found it to be confusing to our permit holders. The fee schedule will now refer to this simply as a “permitting inspection”.
4) Lower the food handler class fee to $10/person should the establishment request the department to teach the class. This fee competes very well with what they would pay for online classes. We hope the lower fee will encourage more establishments to request this service due to the advantage of in-person education and the rapport it begins to develop between the establishment and department.
5) Add Adopt-a-Highway Registration (one-time) fee. This program has been in place for many years and this fee is not new. We are simply requesting formalization of this fee in our department fee schedule. Notes on what this fee is used for are at the bottom of the schedule.
6) Add “501(c)(3)” to clarification notes at the bottom of the fee schedule. Although we state “charitable” organization, we desire to further define this with reference to the tax code as there are many types of nonprofits that may be established.