Barbara Brookmyer, MD, MPH/Health Officer for Frederick County/350 Montevue Lane, Frederick, MD 21702
April 6, 2023
RE: Ordinance to Add a New Chapter 32 to the Frederick City Code, Including Art. I, “Carryout Bags”
Dear Mayor O’Connor and Board of Alderman,
As you know, the Frederick County Health Department is responsible for the ensuring compliance with the Maryland Code of Regulations that applies to Food Service Facilities, COMAR 10.15.03. It is responsible for the regulation, licensure and inspection of facilities that prepare and/or provide food to the public in Frederick County. These facilities can be permanent or temporary. Regarding the proposed ordinance related to “carryout bags” that is to be considered during tonight’s meeting of the Mayor and Board of Alderman, I offer the following for your consideration as it relates to licensed Food Service Facilities.
While there are hand sinks available at all front lines of quick service facilities as staff have to wash hands frequently after handling money/payments, but before handling food and single service items, staff would now be expected to wash their hands after handling a customer’s reused bag before handling food for the next customer.
The customer bags should not be in areas or on surfaces where cross contamination could occur. An example would be in the tight drive through area where a bag that is taken inside the drive through window to fill and could possibly contaminate the beverage dispenser if placed on that surface to fill.
No doubt the care and sanitation of reusable bags varies from customer to customer. The food service facility should be concerned about unwrapped products (e.g., fries not completely wrapped) going out in customer supplied reusable bags. If an exposed food item is placed in a customer’s bag and then later there is a complaint, illness related or even quality related, it would be difficult to determine whether the food item was possibly contaminated by the customer’s bag versus from the food facility’s actions.
I will not be able to be present in-person tonight to share the above information relevant to Food Service Facilities food safety regulations and the proposed incentive for customers to bring their own bags instead of relying upon Food Service Facility-supplied paper or other material bags. Thank you for considering the potential impact on licensed Food Service Facilities and for your efforts to reduce environmental waste.
I am Richard Bailey the owner of Earthly Elements and have been in business for 16 years. While it may be good idea to reduce plastic waste, many Merchants do not feel it is our job to re-train the public at a considerable cost to ourselves. Many Merchants are against this completly but will not stand up and say it becasue they dont want to make themselves a target. I am standing up to say that this authoritarian method is just a bad and wrong way to go about this. I call for this Ordinance in either form to be thrown out.
Its disgusting that Donna has let Lobbyists from The Sierra Club sway public policy, this should never have happened.
For this to be successful you will need the buy-in of every Retail Merchant in Frederick. You have chosen to do this by decreeing that we must do these things or you will fine us? This is just punishmnet for not doing as we are told. This will cost us real time, effort and money. So yes this is personal. It will cost me an extra $5,000 per year to go back to paper. As for charging a bag fee to help re-train the public, Merchants will never do this. It simply is not our job.
Some Merchants will buy-in to the no plastic if you remove the Bag Fee.
I am writing in support of the alternative version of this proposed ordinance in which art galleries will be allowed to use plastic bags to protect sold artwork from damages that can result from exposure to the elements. While the original version of the ordinance provides for individual citizen equity, it does not provide for individual business equity. The alternative version, if approved, creates an equitable ordinance for all businesses which must rely on the use of plastic bags to protect the physical integrity of their sold goods. Just as dry cleaners are allowed in the original ordinance to protect the goods that go out their door, so too should art galleries be allowed to protect their sold goods.
The inclusion of art galleries in the alternative version makes the ordinance equitable for all business who must use plastic bags to protect their sales from damages resulting from exposure to the elements.
Thank you for your consideration. Lori Niland Rounds
This comment is in support of Alternate Version of the proposed alternative.
We are the owners of DISTRICT Arts at 15 N. Market St, a contemporary art gallery. In 2022, our average transaction was $983.
As individuals, we completely support efforts to reduce plastic in the environment. At the same time, we also think that there can be a reasonable balance in the proposed legislation that doesn’t make “perfect the enemy of the good.”
The largest paintings we sell typically cost between $3,000 and $7,500. There is no good alternative to plastic bags to protect these works of art from rain and snow, and damage that can be caused by moving the paintings into and out of cars.
Many of our customers have travelled to Frederick from NoVa, DC, and Montgomery, Howard, and Baltimore Counties. These are the day-trippers that the Downtown Partnership, the Visitor Center, and the Frederick Council for the Arts work diligently to encourage visiting Frederick, for not only the restaurants and the shops, but also for the Arts and Entertainment.
We believe that our business would be significantly impacted if we have to tell these visitors that we can’t protect the art that they just purchased. “Why don’t you come back when it’s not raining” will not fly with someone who has driven 50 miles and found the perfect artwork.
Unlike the Pop Shop or Curious Iguana, or other shops in Frederick, we are not doing dozens of transactions a day. Some days we don’t sell anything. We are not using dozens of plastic bags per day; we might use 5 or 6 per week.
We, and other galleries in Frederick, are blessed with a clientele that appreciates fine art and all that Frederick has to offer in the visual and performing arts. We fear that a ban that doesn’t exempt galleries may lead to serious declines in business.
One final point – like most businesses we purchase supplies in volume because that’s how we get a price break. Between the various sizes that we inventory, we have a years’ worth of bags on hand. What provision is there for disposal of bags on hand if an exemption is not allowed?
Respectfully, we would request an exemption for plastic bag use for art galleries and endorse the Alternate Version of the ordinance.
Barbara Brookmyer, MD, MPH/Health Officer for Frederick County/350 Montevue Lane, Frederick, MD 21702
April 6, 2023
RE: Ordinance to Add a New Chapter 32 to the Frederick City Code, Including Art. I, “Carryout Bags”
Dear Mayor O’Connor and Board of Alderman,
As you know, the Frederick County Health Department is responsible for the ensuring compliance with the Maryland Code of Regulations that applies to Food Service Facilities, COMAR 10.15.03. It is responsible for the regulation, licensure and inspection of facilities that prepare and/or provide food to the public in Frederick County. These facilities can be permanent or temporary. Regarding the proposed ordinance related to “carryout bags” that is to be considered during tonight’s meeting of the Mayor and Board of Alderman, I offer the following for your consideration as it relates to licensed Food Service Facilities.
While there are hand sinks available at all front lines of quick service facilities as staff have to wash hands frequently after handling money/payments, but before handling food and single service items, staff would now be expected to wash their hands after handling a customer’s reused bag before handling food for the next customer.
The customer bags should not be in areas or on surfaces where cross contamination could occur. An example would be in the tight drive through area where a bag that is taken inside the drive through window to fill and could possibly contaminate the beverage dispenser if placed on that surface to fill.
No doubt the care and sanitation of reusable bags varies from customer to customer. The food service facility should be concerned about unwrapped products (e.g., fries not completely wrapped) going out in customer supplied reusable bags. If an exposed food item is placed in a customer’s bag and then later there is a complaint, illness related or even quality related, it would be difficult to determine whether the food item was possibly contaminated by the customer’s bag versus from the food facility’s actions.
I will not be able to be present in-person tonight to share the above information relevant to Food Service Facilities food safety regulations and the proposed incentive for customers to bring their own bags instead of relying upon Food Service Facility-supplied paper or other material bags. Thank you for considering the potential impact on licensed Food Service Facilities and for your efforts to reduce environmental waste.
I am Richard Bailey the owner of Earthly Elements and have been in business for 16 years. While it may be good idea to reduce plastic waste, many Merchants do not feel it is our job to re-train the public at a considerable cost to ourselves. Many Merchants are against this completly but will not stand up and say it becasue they dont want to make themselves a target. I am standing up to say that this authoritarian method is just a bad and wrong way to go about this. I call for this Ordinance in either form to be thrown out.
Its disgusting that Donna has let Lobbyists from The Sierra Club sway public policy, this should never have happened.
For this to be successful you will need the buy-in of every Retail Merchant in Frederick. You have chosen to do this by decreeing that we must do these things or you will fine us? This is just punishmnet for not doing as we are told. This will cost us real time, effort and money. So yes this is personal. It will cost me an extra $5,000 per year to go back to paper. As for charging a bag fee to help re-train the public, Merchants will never do this. It simply is not our job.
Some Merchants will buy-in to the no plastic if you remove the Bag Fee.
I am writing in support of the alternative version of this proposed ordinance in which art galleries will be allowed to use plastic bags to protect sold artwork from damages that can result from exposure to the elements. While the original version of the ordinance provides for individual citizen equity, it does not provide for individual business equity. The alternative version, if approved, creates an equitable ordinance for all businesses which must rely on the use of plastic bags to protect the physical integrity of their sold goods. Just as dry cleaners are allowed in the original ordinance to protect the goods that go out their door, so too should art galleries be allowed to protect their sold goods.
The inclusion of art galleries in the alternative version makes the ordinance equitable for all business who must use plastic bags to protect their sales from damages resulting from exposure to the elements.
Thank you for your consideration. Lori Niland Rounds
This comment is in support of Alternate Version of the proposed alternative.
We are the owners of DISTRICT Arts at 15 N. Market St, a contemporary art gallery. In 2022, our average transaction was $983.
As individuals, we completely support efforts to reduce plastic in the environment. At the same time, we also think that there can be a reasonable balance in the proposed legislation that doesn’t make “perfect the enemy of the good.”
The largest paintings we sell typically cost between $3,000 and $7,500. There is no good alternative to plastic bags to protect these works of art from rain and snow, and damage that can be caused by moving the paintings into and out of cars.
Many of our customers have travelled to Frederick from NoVa, DC, and Montgomery, Howard, and Baltimore Counties. These are the day-trippers that the Downtown Partnership, the Visitor Center, and the Frederick Council for the Arts work diligently to encourage visiting Frederick, for not only the restaurants and the shops, but also for the Arts and Entertainment.
We believe that our business would be significantly impacted if we have to tell these visitors that we can’t protect the art that they just purchased. “Why don’t you come back when it’s not raining” will not fly with someone who has driven 50 miles and found the perfect artwork.
Unlike the Pop Shop or Curious Iguana, or other shops in Frederick, we are not doing dozens of transactions a day. Some days we don’t sell anything. We are not using dozens of plastic bags per day; we might use 5 or 6 per week.
We, and other galleries in Frederick, are blessed with a clientele that appreciates fine art and all that Frederick has to offer in the visual and performing arts. We fear that a ban that doesn’t exempt galleries may lead to serious declines in business.
One final point – like most businesses we purchase supplies in volume because that’s how we get a price break. Between the various sizes that we inventory, we have a years’ worth of bags on hand. What provision is there for disposal of bags on hand if an exemption is not allowed?
Respectfully, we would request an exemption for plastic bag use for art galleries and endorse the Alternate Version of the ordinance.
Bill and Staci McLauchlan
DISTRICT Arts