Oct 23, 2014 By David Singer 3 min read

Legislation to implement a letter grade system for Allegheny County restaurants must be resubmitted every 30 days by the county executive or by council in order to comply with state law.

That’s according to county solicitor Andrew Szefi, who told Allegheny County Council at its Oct. 21 meeting health department regulatory matters must be voted on within 30 days of receiving them.

“It’s clear we have to act within 30 days, but it’s unclear what happens after 30 days. But we haven’t yet had any committee or public hearings yet,” councilwoman Sue Means (R-Bethel Park) said.

Means said she’s currently against passing a measure that would change the county health inspection system from a pass-fail to a posted letter grade outside food establishments.

“I’m going into future committee meetings with an open mind. But the major hang up for me is State Representative John Maher’s letter saying the legislation goes against state statute, which says local laws on health regulations must be the same as the state’s laws,” Means said.

Councilman John Palmieri, chairman of the Health and Human Services committee, wants to do a thorough vetting of the bill, Means said.

“I trust him that this is the right process instead of pushing this through.”

Public hearings are yet to be scheduled, with debate potentially lasting through January, according to Palmieri.

Local restaurant owners are opposed to the bill, saying it forces unreasonable expectations and differences between letter grades could be arbitrary. Cheryl Tacka, one of the two owners of Slate Bistro in Bethel Park, said a recent health inspection highlighted what could be “troublesome for any restaurant owner.”

“The inspector saw that I picked up a dessert (on a dish) without a glove and that was minus 5 points; then I touched another surface without a glove, that was minus 5 points… at the end of the regular inspection, she said ‘if this was the new system you would’ve gotten a B.’ Everything was fine and up to spec, but a customer will look at the B outside the restaurant and think its bad, or something is wrong with the place,” Tacka said.

“The proposed rules aren’t sensible, and they’re not from someone who works in this industry who knows what’s clean and safe.”

New York City restaurant owners sued the city for $150 million over a similar change in health department grading in 2013.