TEMPLE, Texas — Tameika Gleason was one of the first food truck owners to use Temple's Food Truck Plaza when the venue opened late last year. Gleason lives in Temple and owns the Texas Style BBQ food truck.
Friday, Gleason told 6 News the City of Temple continued to add new rules since that opening with a new food truck ordinance. She said the rules have become so confusing that she is now taking her business to Salado and other cities instead.
"We are getting a lot of mixed signals. We are not getting anything concrete as far as what we need to do or how we need to go about doing this stuff." Gleason said.
One of the key issues was the requirement for a "central preparation facility" for food preparation and waste disposal. Unfortunately, there is no such facility in Bell County.
According to the city Food and Food establishments ordinance Sec. 14-39.(a)(1):
"Mobile Food Units must operate from a central preparation facility or other fixed food establishment and must report to such location daily for supplies and for cleaning and servicing operations as required under 25 Tex. Admin. Code § 228.221, as amended."
According to (2): " Approved liquid waste transporters may be used to remove wastewater from a MFU (mobile food unit) and approved servicing areas may be used to dispose of wastewater; however, approved liquid waste transporters and approved servicing areas are in addition to having a central preparation facility. Approved liquid waste transporters and approved servicing areas cannot replace the central preparation facility requirement."
When it comes to using the food truck park, however, parks and recreation Assistant Director Mike Hemker told 6 News the park was originally supposed to bring in trucks for a week or a month at a time, and allow the trucks to stay at the location for that full period.
How then, does that plan square with the requirement for using a central preparation facility at another location? 6 News contacted the city to iron out how this was supposed to work on Friday.
It turns out, the city Food and Food establishments ordinance Sec. 14-39.(b provides an exception to this rule if the truck operator completes something called a "variance request" which is approved by both the city and the Bell County Public Health District.
Gleason told 6 News she had never been informed of this "variance" option.
The City of Temple also told 6 News on Friday wastewater could be disposed of on site at the Food Truck Plaza and food trucks could contract with a company to dispose of grease and other kinds of waste.
Gleason later told 6 news these options had not been fully explained, even when she used the site during its opening.
"We need to get all this information at one time instead of sporadically getting information," Gleason said.
The City of Temple told 6 News food trucks had several options for disposing waste at this time:
- Discharge into a tote that is then taken by a licensed waste hauler.
- Store the wastewater in the truck and then discharge it through an approved and functioning grease interceptor.
- Discharge directly into a location that has an approved and functioning grease interceptor before the waste enters the public sewer system.
- Cooking oil must be discharged separately from wastewater in an appropriate receptacle.