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Date: 1/21/2016
EAST LONGMEADOW – Health Agent Aimee Petrosky said she believes the town has been able to identify more health violations since she started working in the position two months ago.
Petrosky, who started working as the town’s full-time health agent on Nov. 16, 2015, was previously one of six individuals serving in the part-time position during the past year and a half. The selectmen chose her for the full-time job at its Oct. 20, 2015 meeting.
“Working here full-time has been great,” she added. “We’ve been able to identify some areas the department needs to focus on. Some of that is inspections [and] some of that is just some organization in emergency preparedness work. We’re pulling a lot of things together that hasn’t been able to be done because of the lack of manpower.”
Petrosky said a number of problems develop when there is not a consistent health agent investigating potential health violations in a community.
She explained different health inspectors can see things differently.
“We all have things we see right off the bat. I try to focus on the critical issues – things that are going to make people sick – so food safety,” Petrosky said. “Some other inspectors focus on floors, walls, ceilings, and facility issues.
She continued, “One of the issues for the businesses is that they don’t have that consistency. They don’t have someone that they have been able to build a relationship with … One of the things that I try to let people know right when I go in [is], ‘I want to be your food safety partner.’”
Petrosky said one of the main goals of the job is to help businesses and organizations find ways to increase food safety.
“Once we help them identify what the issues are they do the work and come into compliance after that,” she added. “We’ve been having a lot of issues with businesses coming into compliance.”
She said her current focus is getting the town up to date on state mandated inspections.
Petrosky noted she has completed 17 inspections and 26 re-inspections, received six complaints about establishments and ticketed four locations for violating the health regulations since becoming the town’s full-time health agent.
Selectman and Board of Health Chair William Gorman said he believes the health department has improved “1,000 percent” since Petrosky began working full time for the town.
“Before we kept having different people there and each person kind of did their own thing even though they did it to the law,” he added. “She’s definitely doing a wicked good job. Some people are going to get a fine [and] some people aren’t. They’ve got to do the right thing. We just want them to do the right thing so the town doesn’t get sued.”
Gorman said some establishments were six months behind on inspections.
The Board of Selectmen recently voted in a fee plan for noncompliance to violations upon re-inspection, Petrosky said.
The first re-inspection is free, the cost of a second re-inspection is a $75 fee, a third re-inspection is $125 fine and the permit holder must report to a mandatory hearing before the selectmen, and a fourth re-inspection results in a $200 fine and a loss of the establishment’s license for a day.