Marita Adams, environmental health director with the Southern Seven Health Department, presented a proposed update to Union County’s food sanitation ordinance and asked the county commissioners to review the draft and send it to the county attorney for recommendations.

Adams said the ordinance had last been updated in 2018 and that staff made mostly language changes to reflect new responsibilities and code updates since then. She said the draft removes a requirement for renewal applications that her office had not consistently enforced and clarifies where the public-facing inspection information should be posted.

"Previously in the old ordinance, it said that the most recent inspection may be posted conspicuously, which can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. So I wanted to be more clear and why are these places to post their most recent inspection on an entryway door or if there's a place that doesn't have pickup window on that pickup window," Adams said on the record.

Adams told commissioners the department would not be reverting to a letter- or number-grade system for inspections; instead, the inspection report will list violations and highlight noted violations in red so the public can see the number and nature of violations on the inspection record.

She asked the board to send the draft to the county attorney for review and return it to the agenda for approval or further edits. County staff confirmed they will forward the draft for legal review before placing it on a future meeting agenda.

Background and context
Adams said the last ordinance update occurred in 2018 and that the department must now enforce additional regulations and definitions that have been added in the intervening years. The changes described in the presentation are primarily editorial and clarifying, with the most substantive operational changes being the removal of renewal-application language (which the department has not historically enforced) and a directive to require conspicuous posting of the most recent inspection report at an entryway door or pickup window so the public may readily view it. The draft does not adopt a grading system; violations will be emphasized on the report itself.

What happens next
Adams requested — and the commission agreed — to have the county attorney review the draft and provide recommendations. The ordinance will return to the commission agenda for further action after attorney review.

Quotes
"There were some definitions that were needed to be added, some regulations that need to be added that's been put on us to enforce since the last time that ordinance was updated," Adams said.

"What it does have on it though, all the violations that are noted on that inspection are highlighted in red, so you can at least see the number of violations and the nature of the violation on my computer," she added.

The commission did not take final action on the ordinance during the meeting and directed staff to obtain legal review before proceeding to a formal vote.