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Council moves to address Ohio EPA compliance with backflow prevention ordinance amendment
Summary
Councilors reviewed an amendment to move backflow prevention registration and enforcement to the city inspector’s office to meet Ohio EPA requirements; the city inspector said the city is currently in violation and urged advancing the ordinance, including proposing to suspend rules to expedite action.
Councilors considered a codified-ordinance amendment to place backflow prevention and registration under the city inspector’s office so Mount Vernon can monitor and ensure annual testing of backflow devices and comply with Ohio EPA requirements.
City inspector Mr. Jim told councilors the city has ‘‘well over a thousand’’ backflow devices that must be tracked, tested by licensed technicians and inspected, and said the city is currently noncompliant with state EPA rules. He described a tagging-and-inspection regime: council would require licensed testers to perform annual tests, code enforcement would inspect tags and allow a remedial period if devices failed — “we would give them like 30 days to get it fixed,” he said — and staff would use the city’s permitting system to track compliance.
Mr. Jim said the amendment was recommended by the utility commission and that because the city is in violation of Ohio EPA rules, he would like to “suspend the rules and move this forward” to advance the ordinance through council. Several councilors emphasized the aim to make enforcement clear and fair and noted the changes are intended to avoid inconsistent, discretionary street-level enforcement by code officers.
No formal vote on a suspension or final ordinance passage is recorded in the provided transcript; staff indicated they would proceed through the committee and council readings.
