Board extends Winona Powder Coating compliance deadline, adopts enforcement resolution for discharge metering
June 17, 2025 | Elkhart City, Elkhart County, Indiana
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The Board of Public Works of the City of Elkhart on June 17 approved an extension to May 1, 2027 for Winona Powder Coating’s compliance deadline to install a discharge meter and adopted Resolution 25‑R‑09 empowering the compliance director to issue consent orders and assess fines for significant industrial users (SIUs) that fail to meet the city’s discharge‑metering requirements.
The action matters because the discharge‑meter mandate responds to state and federal enforcement expectations and affects the city’s industrial wastewater pretreatment program. Board staff said the requirement — and enforcement steps approved Monday — apply to existing SIUs that were previously not enforced, and that the city has notified industries it expects compliance by June 30, 2025 or to enter a signed consent order.
Public works staff explained the technical rationale, the compliance schedule and the penalties the board authorized. Steve Brown, public works, summarized monitoring options and why the city prefers flow‑proportional monitoring: "Flow proportional monitoring ... is a more accurate means of determining compliance." He and other staff described an exemption pathway for industries that can demonstrate their time‑based sampling is representative of actual flow and pollutant loads; the exemption would relieve those firms from installing a flow meter if they prove stability in their discharge.
Under the board’s enforcement framework: industries that miss the June 30, 2025 deadline will receive a notice of violation and a $250 penalty. Industries that enter a consent order will face a $2,500 penalty per the city’s enforcement response plan and must sign a contract committing to a compliance date; the board set June 30, 2026 as the final compliance date for firms subject to consent orders. Staff said industries must sign consent orders by Aug. 1, 2025; if an industry does not sign by that date the board’s proposed approach imposes a $250 daily penalty until the required signature is filed.
Regulatory staff provided counts and outreach context. Brian Crest, regulatory compliance, told the board the city has 42 designated SIUs; as of the meeting three were fully in compliance and others are at varying stages of meeting the deadline. Staff said the city convened the industrial users on May 9, 2024 to notify them of the mandate and has since received multiple requests for extensions.
The board voted to approve Winona Powder Coating’s requested compliance‑deadline extension from June 30, 2025 to May 1, 2027, "subject to the conditions outlined within the memorandum," and to adopt Resolution 25‑R‑09 authorizing the compliance director to carry out fines and sign consent orders for noncompliance. Raymond Walker, representing Winona Powder Coating, spoke in support: "We've been in close contact for many months during this installation, and I feel like everything that they're offering to us and that we've done we've done in good faith," he said.
The board also handled related wastewater matters on the agenda during the same meeting, including closing an administrative order with JBS Prepared Foods and issuing routine permit renewals. The board said staff will continue outreach to industries, evaluate exemption requests individually and return to the board if enforcement escalations are necessary.
The action matters because the discharge‑meter mandate responds to state and federal enforcement expectations and affects the city’s industrial wastewater pretreatment program. Board staff said the requirement — and enforcement steps approved Monday — apply to existing SIUs that were previously not enforced, and that the city has notified industries it expects compliance by June 30, 2025 or to enter a signed consent order.
Public works staff explained the technical rationale, the compliance schedule and the penalties the board authorized. Steve Brown, public works, summarized monitoring options and why the city prefers flow‑proportional monitoring: "Flow proportional monitoring ... is a more accurate means of determining compliance." He and other staff described an exemption pathway for industries that can demonstrate their time‑based sampling is representative of actual flow and pollutant loads; the exemption would relieve those firms from installing a flow meter if they prove stability in their discharge.
Under the board’s enforcement framework: industries that miss the June 30, 2025 deadline will receive a notice of violation and a $250 penalty. Industries that enter a consent order will face a $2,500 penalty per the city’s enforcement response plan and must sign a contract committing to a compliance date; the board set June 30, 2026 as the final compliance date for firms subject to consent orders. Staff said industries must sign consent orders by Aug. 1, 2025; if an industry does not sign by that date the board’s proposed approach imposes a $250 daily penalty until the required signature is filed.
Regulatory staff provided counts and outreach context. Brian Crest, regulatory compliance, told the board the city has 42 designated SIUs; as of the meeting three were fully in compliance and others are at varying stages of meeting the deadline. Staff said the city convened the industrial users on May 9, 2024 to notify them of the mandate and has since received multiple requests for extensions.
The board voted to approve Winona Powder Coating’s requested compliance‑deadline extension from June 30, 2025 to May 1, 2027, "subject to the conditions outlined within the memorandum," and to adopt Resolution 25‑R‑09 authorizing the compliance director to carry out fines and sign consent orders for noncompliance. Raymond Walker, representing Winona Powder Coating, spoke in support: "We've been in close contact for many months during this installation, and I feel like everything that they're offering to us and that we've done we've done in good faith," he said.
The board also handled related wastewater matters on the agenda during the same meeting, including closing an administrative order with JBS Prepared Foods and issuing routine permit renewals. The board said staff will continue outreach to industries, evaluate exemption requests individually and return to the board if enforcement escalations are necessary.
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