Dalton Board of Health Adopts New Food Permit System
DALTON, Mass. — The Board of Health approved a four-tier risk system for food permits, aiming for more cost-effective inspections.
Last month, Berkshire Regional Planning Commission's health agent and food inspector Jazu Stine presented a proposal to overhaul the food permit categories and fees.
"I came around a little while ago and did the renewal letter and the fines and fees, and bit by bit I'm trying to chip away at making slow change to the permitting process, he said. "Just trying to find things that just were and are, and nobody really knows why, and see if they can be changed bit by bit."
He said the current fee structures vary widely across the 11 towns he serves with different names, prices, and formulas.
"Every one of the 11 towns I do full service has a different list on their application, different names for things, different prices, even completely different ways of calculating it in terms of by seat, some are by square footage, some are by small, medium, large. It's really quite messy," he said.
Stine said after speaking with the state Department of Health, which confirmed there is no requirement for the current arbitrary categories. This means towns can adopt a more standardized system.
"I'm proposing something that simplifies it, and structures it in a way that's based on how much time it actually takes me to do said inspections for the year, and try to make it a bit more of a cost-effective model rather than, I don't know 40 bucks for a baker, because really, when it comes down to it, if I'm going someplace twice a year and permitting them at the beginning of the year, the cost should be kind of close to what that covers if I'm covering it, right?" he said.
He spoke with software company PermitEyes, which the towns use, and said they could start using his new system and fees if approved in the next month.
"I got permission from the software company, meaning that because we're getting close to the end of the year, if I get this approved in the next two months, they could actually implement this for renewal time, and this would go into effect for immediate renewals starting at the end of the year," he said.
Stine proposes using the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's risk-based model with four risk categories.
It is tied to inspection frequency, with the risk classification based on public health risk, not just business type, he said, noting existing complex restaurants could move down a tier over time with strong compliance.
"What's nice about this system is the risk level corresponds to how many inspections a year. It's really straightforward: lowest level one, one inspection a year. Next, level two, two inspections a year," Stine said. "It also puts incentive into it, in that kind of what you were alluding to, a complex restaurant that immediately starts out as a three could get down to a two if they have a history of great managerial control and very few risk elements. ...
"Basically, long story short, it starts trying to base it on risk, not business type, and how much time it takes to actually do it, and just generally make it more simple, so that all the towns are on the same page, and it's kind of easier to explain why somebody is in a category that they are."
The board raised the concern of how to tell people about the large fee increases.
Stine said he is willing to slowly increase it over the year, but the prices the town has are significantly lower than other communities and do not reflect how much work it takes.
"I think it's very fair to say, and everybody knows, none of these have been updated in a very long time, and they clearly do not reflect the actual time it takes to do the job, and third, this probably wouldn't be something you'd say to them," he said. "But how I look at it, having been in the business, I mean, yes, $100 or $200 increase seems significant, and it is. But compared to the cost of liability insurance for the year, workers' comp insurance for the year, I mean, you should pretty much cover that like Jan. 2. If you're doing any kind of decent business, you should be able to close that gap on $100."
The board adopted the new four-tier risk system with fee increases happening in "baby steps."
Stine will explain the new system to businesses. He hopes to get all of his towns approved by Oct. 1 on the new system to roll it out in PermitEyes and be ready for the January renewal cycle.
Tags: board of health, health inspection,
