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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRestaurant Licenses InfoTO: FROM: Tom Anderson, Direct RE: DATE: February 25, 2009 Community Development Department Planning Division • Building Safety Division • Environmental Health Division 117 NW Lafayette Avenue • Bend, Oregon • 97701-1925 MEMORANDUM (541) 388-6575 • FAX (541) 385-1764 http://www.co.deschutes.or.us/cdd/ Board of County Commissioners Temporary Restaurant License Fees/Feb 25th Work Session Effective January 1, 2009, in accordance with direction from the state Dept of Human Services (DHS), Environmental Health began requiring temporary food vendors to obtain a license for each event in which they participated. Past Deschutes County practice had been to allow 30 -day licenses which covered multiple events. Most vendors for which CDD -EH had records were sent a letter in December notifying them of the new practice (attached). The new practice has understandably caused considerable frustration among temporary food vendors in the County, particularly given the current economic environment. Staff has received a number of comments, as has the Board of Commissioners. This will also cause hardship for staff in that each additional issued license will require processing and an inspection. Workload will increase substantially in the spring and summer as events begin to occur. Unfortunately, as contract agents of the State of Oregon, we have no choice but to follow their direction in issuing licenses. Deschutes County does have discretion however, in the amount of the fee charged for the license. As a fee supported operation, fees must be set in order to cover all costs associated with inspection and licensing. Nonetheless, staff believes there may be opportunity for easing the financial burden of vendors, while still maintaining sufficient revenue stream to cover costs. Several ideas have been discussed, including a master event permit obtained by the promoter, and modified inspections associated with ongoing events such as farmers markets. Staff believes vendors may also have legitimate ideas, and we intend to convene a discussion group with several of them to brainstorm how we might ease the burden for everyone. Attached is a clarification of the situation we collectively face that we propose to provide to vendors to begin that discussion. We also welcome any input or suggestions the Board might have. We look forward to the work session of February 25th to discuss this further. Quality Services Performed with Pride TES -k Community Development Department 0 / Planning Division • Building Safety Division • Environmental Health Division December 30, 2008 To whom it may concern, 117 NW Lafayette Avenue • Bend, Oregon • 97701-1925 (541) 388-6575 • FAX (541) 385-1764 http://www.co.deschutes.or.us/cdd/ This letter is in response to the growing number of Temporary Restaurants we have in Deschutes County. We will have over 520 Temporary Restaurants in 2008. This is compared with 280 in 2004. Below we have detailed a few changes that will take place starting in 2009. These changes are meant to provide better public health protection, make us more efficient, and allow for us to follow state -mandated requirements. 1) We recently were informed by the staff at the Oregon Department of Human Services - Food, Pool, and Lodging Section that we are supposed to be inspecting temporary restaurants every week at weekly events, such as Farmer's Markets, Munch -n -Movies, etc., unless there are at least 6 temporary restaurants. Currently, at these weekly events, we have been giving a 30 -day temporary restaurant license to temporary restaurant operators and inspecting them only once in that 30 day period. Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 624.086 (6) states, "Temporary restaurants operating on an intermittent basis, in a group of six or more, at the same specific location two or more times within a 30 -day period shall be issued one license for each 30 -day period." Starting in 2009, we must inspect each temporary restaurant every time it is at a weekly event, unless there are 6 or more temporary restaurants. This also means that the temporary restaurant must pay for a temporary restaurant license each week. If there are 6.or more temporary restaurants at these weekly events, then the license can be issued for 30 days. The only event in Deschutes County with at least 6 temporary restaurants that operate on an intermittent (weekly) basis is Munch -n -Music. For all of the other Farmer's Markets and the Bend Saturday Market promoters, etc., please inform the temporary restaurants that they will have to pay the temporary restaurant fee (currently $80-200, depending on when applied for) every week unless there are at least 6 temporary restaurants. We will also send this letter to the temporary restaurants that have been operating weekly in '08. Quality Services Performed with Pride Currently, in Deschutes County during the Summer months, there is a Farmers Market every day of the week, except Thursday. Some days there are 2 farmer's markets in different communities. Our staff will be working diligently in an attempt to inspect every temporary restaurant that requires inspection, by law. ORS 624.091 (1) states, "At least once during the operation of a temporary restaurant, the Director of Human Services shall inspect the facilities and operation." One point of clarification is defining what a temporary restaurant is. ORS 624.010 states a "Temporary restaurant" means any establishment operating temporarily in connection with any fair, carnival, circus or similar public gathering or entertainment, food product promotion or any other event where food is prepared or served for consumption by the public. "Temporary restaurant" does not include: (a) An establishment where food is prepared and served by a fraternal, social or religious organization only to its own members and guests. (b) An approved school lunchroom where food is prepared and served for school and community activities, where the preparation and service are under the direction of the school lunchroom supervisor. (c) A food product promotion where only samples of a food or foods are offered to demonstrate the characteristics of the food product. For the purposes of this paragraph, a sample shall not include a meal, an individual hot dish or a whole sandwich. (d) A private residence, or part thereof, including the grounds, areas and facilities held out for the use of the occupants generally, for which a temporary sales license is issued under ORS 471.190 for a period not exceeding one day. NOTE: The following foods are exempt from foodservice licensure requirements: (1) Candy, candied apples, cookies and non -potentially hazardous confections; (2) Commercially prepackaged ice cream and frozen desserts; (3) Commercially pickled products, commercially processed jerky, nuts, nutmeats, popcorn, and prepackaged foods such as potato chips, pretzels, and crackers; (4) Unopened bottled and canned non -potentially hazardous beverages to include alcoholic beverages; (5) Coffee and tea, with non -potentially hazardous ingredients; (6) Hot beverages prepared by the customer from individually packaged powdered mixes and water; and (7) Other food items as determined by the Department of Human Services, such as a produce stand that only offers whole, uncut fresh fruits and vegetables. 2) Given the sheer volume of temporary restaurants we have now compared with in years past, it has become clear that we need the temporary restaurant applications earlier than 2 days prior to the event. We will require the temporary restaurant license application at lest 10 DAYS i i s vance of the event, starting July 1, 2009. Our staff is now working s a year inspecting hundreds of temporary restaurants and we need the temporary restaurant license applications earlier to efficiently schedule the temporary restaurant inspections to blend with all of our other required inspections of full service restaurants, swimming pools and spas, water systems, septic systems, daycares, mobile unit restaurants, school lunch programs, pre -openings of restaurants, complaints, hotels and motels. 3) For temporary restaurant applicants that don't own a full-service restaurant, and can't prepare and store all the food at the event, the temporary restaurant application asks for the name of the off-site Licensed Facility used for food prep, food storage, and utensil washing. We are seeing situations where the facility being named is not actually being used. Sometimes, applicants will make food at their homes or some other non -licensed facility. This is not allowed. We will be more vigilant in following up and inspecting off-site facilities to verify they are being used as necessary. Foods that are found to be made at an unapproved facility shall be thrown away and a Temporary Restaurant license may be suspended or revoked. For your convenience, we are working towards an on-line Temporary Restaurant License application and you will pay with a credit card using E-commerce. This should be available starting in July, 2009 and will save a trip to the county office! Finally, please make sure that operating a temporary restaurant is an approved land use activity by checking with City or County Planning departments. Without proper land use approval, we cannot issue a temporary Restaurant License. Please call me at 541-388-6566 if you have any questions or comments. Sincerely, Eric Mone, REHS Deschutes County Environmental Health Supervisor, Foodservice Facilities 541-388-6566 CC: City of Bend, Planning Dept., Deschutes County Planning Dept. CLARIFICATION OF TEMPORARY LICENSE PROCEDURE State rules- The requirement of licensing and inspection of a Temporary Restaurant every week in an intermittent series of events (i.e., Farmer's Markets) is a State rule. Deschutes County Environmental Health in the past has only been inspecting Temp Restaurants once every 30 days and only charging one fee. Last year we had meetings with the DHS people about this issue. By contract with the DHS, we are charged to enforce the state rules, so beginning in 2009 those rules will be followed. There is an exception to this rule called the Saturday Market Provision: if there are 6 or more Temporary Restaurants, then a 30 -day license can be issued and only one inspection needs to take place. There is no public health reason for this exemption. Rather, it is a rule that was implemented years ago for the Saturday Markets that run almost year-round in Portland. For Temporary Restaurant operators, protesting or changing those rules should be done by contacting the state through the DHS or your state legislator. Deschutes County fees - The ability to set the fees and when the fees have to be paid is in the County province as long as it is justified and approved by both the Board of County Commissioners and the DHS. The proposal for the reduced fee for applications received 10 -day prior to the event will be in our fee package given to the Board in May for an effective date of July 1. There will be chances for public comment and if you want to receive a copy of the final proposal please call Sandy Ringer at 541-388-6621. The food inspection program is entirely fee supported. The building, the cars, the computers, all the County services provided to CDD, the administration and finally the inspectors all must be paid for with these fees. We do not make money beyond those costs. Our fees for Temporary license are less than many Counties throughout the state. We will set up a meeting with stakeholders so that we can have a forum where their ideas can be heard. We have to follow the state statutes but will look for input from event promoters and food operators as they may have valuable ideas on fee schedules (i.e., sliding fee scale).