passopenrecords.org

Last month, we blogged about PA’s restaurant inspections and asked if Harrisburg had a restaurant inspector.

Well, today I was able to obtain a certified copy of the minutes from the June 5 Harrisburg City Council’s Legislative session. (Yay for a hassle-free experience, although it cost a dollar for a four-page document!) The original link I provided was dead, but here’s the info from my certified copy:

Under ordinances for second reading and final passage…

“The City Clerk read Bill 6-2007 into the record. Moved by Ms. Kim with a second by Mr. Miller, this is an Ordinance amending Chapter 6-103 of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Harrisburg titled “Enforcement and Penalty,” Chapter 6501 titled “Food Inspection,” and Chapter 6-503 titled “Public Eating, Drinking and Food Merchandising Establishments” to adopt the Food Code as set forth in 7 Pa. Code Chapter 46 and to make other revisions.

Ms. White called for the vote and this passed unanimously by those present.”

Now, I’m not a legal genius, so I had no idea what this meant. To gain some insight, I called some of the nice folks at the PA Dept. of Agriculture and asked them to explain it to me. What this ordinance means is that the City of Harrisburg is adopting the state’s code in restaurant law instead of following their own. The City is still required to do their own inspections.

Interesting…Also, later on in the meeting, a Mr. Darnell Williams spoke in the public participation segment. He said,

“…Ms. Roberts’ point to upgrade and update the Food Code is right on target; he ate downtown and got sick; not having a Food Inspector (the person was laid off) only hurts the customers and the City’s food industry.

Well-said, Mr. Williams. And I wonder how long this will go on until a food inspector is hired?