Health District cannot meet its own codes

Dan Kulin

Friday, Aug. 27, 2004 | 11:15 a.m.

The Clark County Health District cafeteria is closing today because it doesn't meet health codes, and health officials decided it was too expensive to bring the cafeteria up to their own standards, officials said.

County Chief Health Officer Dr. Donald Kwalick told the health board on Thursday that it would cost more than $200,000 "to follow our own regulations" with the cafeteria.

"I laughed, I admit it," Assemblyman Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, and member of the health board, said.

"It was amusing that we were caught in our own regulations ... and we're not about to give ourselves a variance," Hardy said.

A variance is a board-approved exception to the rules.

The cafeteria, a small, windowless room with 10 tables in the District Health Center on Shadow Lane, received a 'B' in an Aug. 3 health inspection. A failing grade is anything lower than a C, and food establishments receiving any grade lower than an A are required to correct the problems.

Problems with the cafeteria, which is open to the public, included a refrigerator that wasn't cold enough, a lack of space around its triple sink for drying equipment, and a floor and walls that needed to be cleaner, Health District spokeswoman Jennifer Sizemore said.

But Sizemore said it is the lack of space that makes the problems there so expensive to fix.

In addition to a new refrigerator, the cafeteria needs a new sink for hand washing, which, along with adding space around the triple sink, would require extensive, and expensive, renovations, she said.

"We would need to do significant remodeling," Sizemore said.

Sizemore said the Health District had planned to replace the cafeteria equipment, but top administrators decided the facility wasn't used enough to justify the cost.

About 50 to 70 people use the cafeteria daily, Sizemore said. About 325 people work in the building, which is also visited by hundreds of residents each day.

Through today the cafeteria sells hot meals -- the Thursday special was pork chops with gravy, rice and green beans for $3.75 -- and sandwiches and hamburgers for about $2 to $4.

The cafeteria will reopen Sept. 13 minus the kitchen. Instead, a private company will sell food from vending machines, and there will be microwaves available.

Sizemore said the vending company is not paying the Health District for putting the vending machines there, nor is it charging the district for the placement.

The two full-time cafeteria workers will be reassigned to other jobs in the Health District, Sizemore said.