Hunt County health director asks commissioners for second registered sanitarian to meet inspection requirements

Rodney, director of the Hunt County Health Department, told the Hunt County Commissioner’s Court on June 24 that he is requesting an additional environmental health inspector (registered sanitarian) to meet state inspection requirements and handle growing workload from new food establishments, mobile units and commercial pools.

The request matters because county health staff are responsible for inspecting food establishments and commercial pools outside Greenville city limits under state rules; Rodney said the county currently cannot meet the minimum number of inspections required under state food establishment regulations without an additional inspector.

Rodney said the department currently tracks about 243 food establishments, roughly 80 mobile units, 26 pools and 32 schools that require inspection. “For 243 food establishments, really, there's 2 inspections required per year. That's the minimum,” he said, adding that those two inspections drive a total workload of roughly 486 inspections just for food and about 710 inspections annually when other inspections are included. He also said the department handled 64 rabies reports in 2024 and had already received 38 so far this year.

Rodney described operational constraints: he recently became director and is still performing some inspection work himself while the department is actively recruiting to fill his prior position; he said field work includes long travel between towns in the county and time-consuming follow-ups for complaints, reinspections and pre‑opening checks for pools and schools. “This second position would give us plenty of room for growth for quite some time, and it would allow us to meet all the required number of inspections,” he said.

County staff and commissioners questioned how to pay for another position. The court noted the health office budgeted a little over $423,000 in revenue in one line and that the health fund this year is nearing roughly $690,000 in appropriations; staff later characterized estimated revenue nearer to $500,000 when accounting for grant support. Commissioners and staff referenced a grant that covers a large share of one inspector’s salary; a figure of $71,641 was cited in the meeting as grant funding tied to inspector payroll. Rodney said the grant covered “70 something percent” of a salary and that the department could look at fee adjustments (including starting a reinspection fee) to increase cost recovery.

No formal vote was taken. The court directed staff to work with Rodney and county human resources (Sandy) to review pay ranges and recruitment options and to study fee structures and comparables with nearby jurisdictions to identify revenue options. Judge Stovall said he and staff would reconvene later in the week to try to develop a plan.

The court’s discussion made clear the county provides inspections outside Greenville city limits; Greenville handles inspections inside its city limits. Rodney said the state performs inspections in some sparsely populated areas.

Commissioners asked for a short plan showing the requested position’s fiscal impact and potential fee changes before placing the request on a future agenda for formal consideration.