During the “General Public Comments” period of Monday
night’s Council meeting a citizen complained that after Sandy some merchants
were selling food that had not been refrigerated due to the loss of power. He
wanted to know why this was allowed to happen. Also what controls were in place
to prevent a recurrence?
I am unsure who is responsible for inspections of food
vendors including restaurants, carts, Deli’s, supermarkets and Mama/ Papa
markets. I would assume that this is a function of the Health Division.
According to the Plainfield site; one of the goals of the Health
Division is “Preventing epidemics and the spread of disease.” Among the “Essential
Services Provided” by this Division are;
1 Monitor health status to identify
community problems.
2
Diagnose and investigate health problems and hazards.
3
Enforce laws and regulations that
protect health and provide
safety
safety
The question then arises; after Sandy was there any inspection of stores and other food sellers for compliance with the law?
I have received some confusing information but Plainfield apparently
has been without a working Health Officer since Jan 2012 or June 2012.
Unanswered is; have any inspections of food vendors taken
place the past 17 months? Are the health protection laws being enforced? If not who is accountable?
The shared services contract to be signed with Union County
is to provide some services with a minimum of 8 hours a week presence in an
office in Plainfield. The contract is for $55,000.00 for a year or $4583.33 a
month which breaks down to about $143.23 per hour for a very part time
official.
Unanswered is; have any inspections of food vendors taken place the past 17 months? Are the health protection laws being enforced? If not who is accountable?
It would also seem to me that an essential member of any
Emergency Management team would be the Health Officer. Who acted in his
capacity during Sandy; or is there no such provision in our setup? Certainly a
County official cannot be expected to fill that role.
There is little help from the proposed budget as an answer to the above questions. Although both the Bilingual Care Center and Animal Control are listed in the cities TO as being part of the Health Care and Social Services Division; they have separate budget lines. Health and Social Services in 2012 budgeted $487,930.00 for Salaries and Wages and $73, 4487.75 for other expenses. The actual expenditures for 2012 were $430, \044.66 for wages and $18,518.00.for other expenses.
The difference of almost 58K for salaries may represent 6 months without the Health Officer; does the 65K difference in other expenses indicate that services were not provided?
Remarkably the proposed 2013 budget requests only $472,489.00 or 42,000 more than 2012 actual expenses. Similarly; The 2013 other expenses request is for $50,400.00 or 23k less than last year but 32K more than was actually expended.
These are significant differences. Will the Council in its
review of the budget provide an acceptable explanation?
once again i thank you doc for paying attention to my remarks about public health safety once again it appeard that council listen but dont hear us as evident by no action being taken i walked the streets of plfd and saw spoiled foods being sold while in north plainfield all stores who lost power were shut down by health dept untill re inspection a fellow advocate norman x johnson
ReplyDeleteWhen I had a concern about outdated canned and frozen food and bad produce at a supermarket near me, I was told that inspections were only done once a year. Because many people without cars rely on stores within walking distance, I felt this was inadequate.
ReplyDeleteGood point about the Health Officer's place on the Emergency Management team. It is very possible we are skimping on health inspections. I was recently in a local restaurant and noticed the inspection certification was dated. Could be we are falling behind. In Middlesex County, health officers are a county position and the individuals rotate through the municipalities for a period of time. I'm pretty sure that's the situation, not 100%. That may be a way to move forward though. Perhaps well get lucky and providence will fix our ills.
ReplyDeleteI think this is simply the rut of Plainfield's way of working. Sloppy attention to what needs to be done. No vision, no leadership, no care for the people.
ReplyDeletePlease, think before you vote for Sharon, and ask yourself if this is the Plainfield you deserve. She is not the only person who has contributed to Plainfield's mess, but she has done nothing, I repeat, nothing, to improve it.