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SAWHORSE
Sonic Drive-In Problems Might Spur Review of Other Local Eateries
Saturday, November 8, 2014 3:00 pm
By Josh Mitchell, Missourian Staff Writer
http://www.emissourian.com/local_news/business/sonic-drive-in-problems-might-spur-review-of-other-local/article_94b544af-d2ec-5dfd-9626-3630a439ac14.html
Following the discovery that fire suppression equipment at the Washington Sonic Drive-In was not working, the city building department is considering visiting other local restaurants to do walkthroughs.
“We want to stay on top of it,” said city of Washington Building Official Don Peters. “But with the limited amount of staff that we’ve got we’ve got to work it into the schedule too. We take it very seriously.”
Under city code, the fire suppression equipment is supposed to be inspected every six months, but records showed that it had not been inspected for five years, according to Peters.
The fire suppression equipment over the grills and fryers was not working, Peters said.
Now city officials will discuss visiting other local restaurants to check their systems, he said, adding that he does not think problems are widespread.
“I don’t think it’s an epidemic or anything like that,” Peters said. “I think the majority of our places in the city are well maintained. I think this one was just one of them that kind of slipped through the cracks.”
Other than problems with the fire suppression, the Washington Sonic also had numerous critical violations involving sanitation, such as rodent droppings, cockroaches and heavy amounts of grease, according to Tony Buel with the Franklin County Health Department.
The problems with Sonic started showing up about two years ago, Buel said, adding, “You can’t by law shut down a restaurant until they have at least three critical violations.”
Therefore a restaurant could be in “bad” shape but not to the point of having to be closed, Buel said.
It appeared the conditions at the Sonic in Washington got worse over time, he added.
Monday was the first time rodent droppings had been seen in the restaurant, but cockroaches had been seen “on several occasions” previously, Buel said.
The health department has two part-time inspectors and one full-time inspectors, and Buel said he feels as though that is enough inspectors. All the inspections will be done this year, he added. Every restaurant in the county is inspected at least once a year, he noted.
Reopens
The Washington Sonic reopened Wednesday at lunch after being shut down by the health department Monday morning.
Peters issued Sonic a new occupancy permit this week after the prior permit was terminated. The restaurant now meets the city’s minimum standards, he added.
Sonic area supervisor Joshua Greenwood provided The Missourian with a statement from the restaurant, which says, “Our first priority is to our guests and providing them with quality food in a clean, sanitary environment.
“Over the last two days we have cooperated with officials to correct issues that did not meet our standards. We have reinforced all training procedures with all of our staff to avoid a similar situation in the future. These issues, which were isolated to this location have been corrected and we look forward to welcoming our customers back.”
The problems were found during the health department’s normal inspection process not through a complaint, according to Buel.
The city does not do annual checks to ensure that area restaurants are keeping up to date on their fire suppression system inspections.
“It is the responsibility of the tenant or business owner to comply with those codes, and if there’s questions we can go by there and do spot checks,” Peters said. “But we don’t have the staff to go by and inspect every commercial building every year.”
The city will conduct an inspection if there is a change of ownership or occupant, a major renovation or if there is a complaint.
The Washington Sonic also had some electrical problems such as emergency and exit lighting not working, Peters said.
Saturday, November 8, 2014 3:00 pm
By Josh Mitchell, Missourian Staff Writer
http://www.emissourian.com/local_news/business/sonic-drive-in-problems-might-spur-review-of-other-local/article_94b544af-d2ec-5dfd-9626-3630a439ac14.html
Following the discovery that fire suppression equipment at the Washington Sonic Drive-In was not working, the city building department is considering visiting other local restaurants to do walkthroughs.
“We want to stay on top of it,” said city of Washington Building Official Don Peters. “But with the limited amount of staff that we’ve got we’ve got to work it into the schedule too. We take it very seriously.”
Under city code, the fire suppression equipment is supposed to be inspected every six months, but records showed that it had not been inspected for five years, according to Peters.
The fire suppression equipment over the grills and fryers was not working, Peters said.
Now city officials will discuss visiting other local restaurants to check their systems, he said, adding that he does not think problems are widespread.
“I don’t think it’s an epidemic or anything like that,” Peters said. “I think the majority of our places in the city are well maintained. I think this one was just one of them that kind of slipped through the cracks.”
Other than problems with the fire suppression, the Washington Sonic also had numerous critical violations involving sanitation, such as rodent droppings, cockroaches and heavy amounts of grease, according to Tony Buel with the Franklin County Health Department.
The problems with Sonic started showing up about two years ago, Buel said, adding, “You can’t by law shut down a restaurant until they have at least three critical violations.”
Therefore a restaurant could be in “bad” shape but not to the point of having to be closed, Buel said.
It appeared the conditions at the Sonic in Washington got worse over time, he added.
Monday was the first time rodent droppings had been seen in the restaurant, but cockroaches had been seen “on several occasions” previously, Buel said.
The health department has two part-time inspectors and one full-time inspectors, and Buel said he feels as though that is enough inspectors. All the inspections will be done this year, he added. Every restaurant in the county is inspected at least once a year, he noted.
Reopens
The Washington Sonic reopened Wednesday at lunch after being shut down by the health department Monday morning.
Peters issued Sonic a new occupancy permit this week after the prior permit was terminated. The restaurant now meets the city’s minimum standards, he added.
Sonic area supervisor Joshua Greenwood provided The Missourian with a statement from the restaurant, which says, “Our first priority is to our guests and providing them with quality food in a clean, sanitary environment.
“Over the last two days we have cooperated with officials to correct issues that did not meet our standards. We have reinforced all training procedures with all of our staff to avoid a similar situation in the future. These issues, which were isolated to this location have been corrected and we look forward to welcoming our customers back.”
The problems were found during the health department’s normal inspection process not through a complaint, according to Buel.
The city does not do annual checks to ensure that area restaurants are keeping up to date on their fire suppression system inspections.
“It is the responsibility of the tenant or business owner to comply with those codes, and if there’s questions we can go by there and do spot checks,” Peters said. “But we don’t have the staff to go by and inspect every commercial building every year.”
The city will conduct an inspection if there is a change of ownership or occupant, a major renovation or if there is a complaint.
The Washington Sonic also had some electrical problems such as emergency and exit lighting not working, Peters said.
