(A) Required. At least once every three months, the health authority shall inspect each food service establishment located in the city, or its police jurisdiction, and shall make as many additional inspections and reinspections as are necessary for the enforcement of this chapter.
(B) Right of entry. The health authority, after proper identification, may enter, at any reasonable time, any food service establishment in the city, or its police jurisdiction, for the purpose of making inspections to determine compliance with this chapter. The health authority may examine the records of the establishment to obtain pertinent information pertaining to food and supplies purchased, received or used and persons employed.
(C) Inspection records; demerit system. Whenever the health authority makes an inspection of a food service establishment, he or she shall record his or her findings on an inspection report form provided for this purpose, and shall furnish the original of the inspection report form to the license holder or operator. The form shall summarize the requirements of this chapter and shall set forth a demerit point value for each requirement as violated by the establishment. Upon completion of an inspection, the health authority shall total the demerit point values for all requirements which are violated, the total becoming the demerit score for the establishment.
(D) Notice of violation.
(1) Whenever the health authority makes an inspection of a food service establishment and discovers that any of the requirements of this chapter have been violated, he or she shall notify the license holder or operator of the violations by means of an inspection report form or other written notice. In the notification, the health authority shall:
(a) Set forth the specific violations found, together with the demerit score of the establishment;
(b) Establish a specific and reasonable period of time for the correction of the violations found, in accordance with the following provisions:
1. When the demerit score of the establishment is 20 or less, all violations of two or four demerit points must be corrected by the time of the next routine inspection;
2. When the demerit score of the establishment is more than 20 but not more than 40, all items of two or four demerit points must be corrected within a period of time not to exceed 30 days;
3. When one or more six demerit point items are in violation, regardless of demerit score, the items must be corrected within a period of time not to exceed ten days;
4. When the demerit score of the establishment is more than 40, the establishment’s license is immediately suspended; and
5. In the case of a temporary food service establishment, violations must be corrected within a specified period of time not to exceed 24 hours. Failure to comply with the notice shall result in immediate suspension of the license.
(c) State the failure to comply with any notice issued in accordance with this chapter may result in immediate suspension of the license (or the establishment’s being downgraded); and
(d) State that an opportunity for appeal from any notice or inspection findings will be provided if a written request for a hearing is filed with the health authority within the period of time established in the notice for correction.
(2) A notice provided for in this division shall be deemed to have been properly serviced when the original of the inspection report form or other notice has been delivered personally to the license holder or person in charge, or the notice has been sent, by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, to the last known address of the license holder. A copy of the notice shall be filed with the records of the health authority.
(E) Grading.
(1) Every food service establishment in the city, or its police jurisdiction, shall display, in a place designated by the health authority, a placard approved by the health authority stating the grade received at the time of the most recent inspection of the establishment. Temporary food service establishments, however, are not subject to grading. Grades of establishments shall be as follows:
(a) Grade A, which means an establishment having a demerit score of more than 20;
(b) Grade B, which means an establishment having a demerit score of more than 20 but not more than 30; and
(c) Grade C, which means an establishment having a demerit score of more than 30 but not more than 40.
(2) Notwithstanding the grade criteria established in this division, whenever a second consecutive violation of any item of two or four demerit points is discovered, the license may be suspended or, in lieu thereof, the establishment shall be downgraded to the next lower grade.
(3) Immediately following each inspection, the health authority shall post the appropriate grade based upon the inspection findings, and shall issue an appropriate notice in accordance with division (D) hereof.
(4) The license holder or the operator of an establishment, the grade of which has been lowered, may at any time request an inspection for the purpose of regrading the establishment. Within ten days following receipt of a request, including a signed statement that the conditions responsible for the lowering of the grade have, in the applicant’s opinion, been corrected, the health authority shall make an inspection and thereafter as many additional inspections as he or she may deem necessary to ensure himself or herself that the applicant is complying with the higher grade requirements. If the findings indicate compliance, the health authority shall award the higher grade.
(Ord. passed 10-23-1978)