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Show - o - - ' IEdlnitdDirfiaill Park City's restaurant reputation is in the county's hands For a while, it looked like a long food fight was breaking out over the issue of Park City restaurants. Now everyone involved is treating it as a mere case of spilled salt. On Aug. 16, Summit County resident Ron Morgan appeared ap-peared before the county's health board and expressed concern con-cern that restaurants in Park City were slipshod health-wise, health-wise, and were getting infrequent inspections. He came with impressive credentials, as a director of the Utah Restaurant Association, put within a few weeks, Morgan's campaign fizzled out.' His charges were widely disputed, and Morgan himself became strangely silent after af-ter a meeting with restaurant owners. But the underlying issue remains. The whole episode illustrated how vulnerable Summit County is to attacks on its health program. For the last 18 months (since the departure depar-ture of sanitarian Bob Reschke), the county has tried to meet its large load of health needs with a single sanitarian. Now, the county is planning to hire a second inspector (whose duties will include oil fields as well as restaurants) by Oct. 1. The money is available, thanks to fees paid to the county from the ParkWest concert series of promoter J.C. McNeil. . vi--.iPj-w":.vft"iMMfS' This action is long overdue. With its much-vaunted 44 restaurants, Park City has all the public health requirements of a nationally-popular, ski tjwn. Jt.is probably the most intense concentration of eating places irt Utah. But this is only the beginning. There is also massive oil development, over 100 campgrounds, and a large number of septic tank systems. Given all that, it's reassuring to ee that the county will hire another sanitarian. But it's scary to suppose this was only possible, fiscally, thanks to the Beach Boys and the Grateful Dead! The county can't rely on rock concerts. From now on, the regular county budget has to afford enough money for health inspectors, whether two or even three are needed to do the job. Granted, budgets are difficult creatures, and sometimes they don't satisfy our every wish. But if Summit County can't afford to adequately supervise the health practices of our tourism, housing and resource development, develop-ment, aren't we in a lot of trouble? We'll find out in the 1984 budget, the first to be set by our new commission. The first problem in the Summit County Health Department Depart-ment is lack of manpower. Whatever other flaws or virtues in the department, the beginning is there. Without enough people, you can't have frequent restaurant inspections, or a coherent program of training for restaurants in food handling. han-dling. Summit County has made progress in its restaurant inspections. in-spections. In the 1970s, Summit County eateries had average scores in the 50s in state inspections. The most recent state survey, in 1982, showed Summit restaurants with an average score of 70. The state average is 74. That's nice. But being a little below average isn't good enough. Summit County's restaurants need the best possible service they can get. The county has taken a step in the right direction, now it should guarantee its citizens that "food fights," whether skirmishes or long wars, will not happen again. RB |