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Health and safety problems at county concession stands spur new rules and inspections
Summary
Health- and fire-department inspections found electrical and sanitation violations in multiple concession stands; volunteers and parks staff agreed to update wiring, require food-handler certificates and permits for traveling teams, consider deposits, and return with formal guidelines at a future meeting.
Scurry County commissioners spent extensive time addressing a string of health, safety and operational problems at park concession stands after county staff presented findings from health- and fire-department inspections.
Officials cited multiple code violations: improper use of extension cords, unlabeled or blocked breaker panels, missing outlet cover plates and an air-conditioning circuit found disconnected while a fryer was wired into the panel. A county speaker said the findings were from the fire marshal and described the required corrective work.
Health-department photos shown to the court documented food left in fryers, refrigerators and freezers with mold or ice buildup, sticky syrup on floors that could attract rodents, and unclean soda nozzles. A concession volunteer acknowledged some of the problems but said several messes followed visiting travel tournaments and described existing cleaning routines: seasonal deep cleans, midseason scrubbing, and volunteer-operated mouse-control measures.
To reduce risk, commissioners directed parks and maintenance staff to update wiring and add dedicated outlets, remove unusable frozen equipment, and coordinate pest control. The court and volunteers discussed operational rules for renting concession stands to traveling teams: require a food-handler certificate for at least one person on duty (an online 2-hour course commonly used, valid three years) and require events to obtain a health permit at least 10 business days before a tournament. Commissioners also asked staff to draft a daily checklist, formal deposit/refund process and enforcement penalties for noncompliance and to return with proposed guidelines by the next meeting window (options included Oct. 15 or Nov. 5 in the discussion).
Volunteer leaders and booster-club members warned that a small core of regular volunteers already carry much of the workload and urged clearer expectations, rotation and deposit incentives so teams will clean and secure the facilities after use.
