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Park County health staff report inspection backlog as sanitarians leave for other jobs
Summary
Park County health officials told the Board of Health they are behind on statutorily required inspections after a registered sanitarian accepted work out of state, leaving the department short‑staffed and with only roughly one‑third of retail food licenses inspected this year.
The Park County, Livingston City Board of Health heard Oct. 14 that the county’s environmental health program is behind on mandated inspections after staffing losses and vacancies.
The department’s environmental health official told the board the county has 229 retail food licenses and has inspected about 36% of them year‑to‑date; food manufacturing inspections stand at about 26% (5 of 23 licenses), public accommodations about 45%, pools 66%, spas 60% and trailer courts 50%. The official also said seven body‑art licenses still have no inspections recorded this year and that the department has issued 131 septic permits so far, compared with an average of roughly 200 annually.
Why it matters: Montana requires local health departments to complete inspections on a calendar‑year schedule. The official said long‑running staffing shortages are the main cause of the backlog and that the county’s sanitarian complement is about 1.6 full‑time equivalents, leaving limited capacity to meet inspection targets.
The board discussed training and recruitment options. The environmental health official said one registered sanitarian, Shane, accepted a position in Michigan and may depart within weeks, and that the county plans to post a sanitarian training position; the department also plans to use state training resources and agreements with other counties to accelerate on‑the‑job learning. "We've been short staffed for a while," the official said, adding that staff will prioritize licenses that remain undone next year.
The official also reported the county had given notice to a Sweetgrass County counterpart that Park County will stop performing that county’s contracted inspections because Sweetgrass was not getting work done under the arrangement; Sweetgrass had paid the county through December and Park County said it will follow up to ensure continuity of inspections.
The board signaled support for recruitment and training efforts and discussed shifting staff time during slower permit seasons to catch up on license inspections.
Next steps: Board members said they expect staff to post the training position, pursue inter‑county training and report back on recruitment progress at future meetings.
