Saturday, November 22, 2014

[Merced County] Grand jury complaint spotlights management issues in county Environmental Health Division


November 21, 2014
Merced Sun-Star
By Ramona Giwargis

A civil grand jury complaint filed last month blamed Merced County’s tardy food inspections on a lack of oversight and control by management, potentially leading to the third investigation of the county’s Environmental Health Division in three years.
The complaint singles out two supervisors – Director of Environmental Health Ron Rowe and Supervising Environmental Health Specialist Vicki Jones – and raises questions about their involvement in the day-to-day operations of the division.
According to the complaint, Rowe and Jones spend too much time outside of the office or in closed-door meetings. Rowe and Jones, his subordinate, leave the office at the same time and are gone for long periods of time, the complaint said.
“Their many absences and severe lack of oversight caused several programs to fail, mainly the food inspection program,” stated the grand jury complaint, obtained by the Merced Sun-Star.
The complaint claims that Rowe and Jones take long lunches together multiple days each week, leading to lack of oversight of the county’s food inspections.
“Neglecting to oversee their responsible program causes great harm to the public in potential food borne illness, unsanitary conditions,” the complaint said. “Ron Rowe and Vicki Jones negligently place the public at risk by not managing their (food) programs.”
Merced County’s Environmental Health Division was the subject of two prior grand jury investigations for falling behind on annual food inspections. The department conducts inspections on more than 1,100 food-related operations in Merced County, including restaurants, gas stations and school cafeterias.
The 2013-14 grand jury report found 12 percent of food inspections were overdue as of March. Food inspections were behind by 40 percent from the prior year, with a follow-up report showing inspections of 88 facilities remained past due from 2012 and 2013.
In a previous interview, Rowe and Jones blamed the overdue food inspections on a 20 percent reduction in staffing, aging computer equipment and increases in workload.
But the 2013-14 grand jury report hinted at trouble with the division’s management, stating that jurors found a “general sense of distrust” between management and line staff. However, jurors kept their primary focus on the overdue food inspections.
Meetings behind closed doors
Rowe and Jones declined comment on the new complaint, referring questions to Public Health Director Kathleen Grassi.
In an interview with the Sun-Star, Grassi said a grand jury member last year told her that there was a “management problem” in the division, but failed to provide specific details.
Grassi said she gave staff the opportunity to meet with her privately after last year’s grand jury investigation was completed, and two staff members shared concerns related to Rowe and Jones.
“The two staff that met with me individually said there were a lot of closed-door meetings,” Grassi said. “The long lunches and closed-door meetings were the two things brought up by staff.”
But Grassi was quick to point out that closed-door meetings might be necessary for management and that no one could provide evidence to substantiate anything inappropriate was happening.
“Maybe they are discussing personnel issues. Just because the door is closed, it doesn’t mean anything inappropriate is going on,” she said. “We certainly have to give professional staff the benefit of the doubt.”
Not having enough specific information to verify the concerns, Grassi said, she was unable to take action. She’d heard no further concerns from staff until the recent grand jury complaint last month.
Following the new complaint, Grassi met with all the Environmental Health employees earlier this month to discuss their observations. Grassi said she was told about one inappropriate comment made by Rowe to Jones, but declined to elaborate on it.
“It was probably not an appropriate comment, but it does not indicate there’s anything immoral or illegal going on, generally speaking,” she said. “I’m not going to hang somebody based on one comment. It’s definitely a red flag, but if I heard several other comments, it would be different.”
Grassi said she gleaned many suggestions for improving the division’s overall management practices from her conversations with staff. Increasing communication, having more frequent meetings and involving all supervisors in decisions are a few of the things the division will work on, she said.
Filling a third supervisor position vacant since 2011 will also help, Grassi said, because it will allow Rowe to distribute the workload more evenly.
“There was a perception that there was favoritism of Vicki because she took on additional workload and Ron was working with her directly,” she said. “More even distribution of the workload will allow all the supervisors to be available to staff, and there will be less need for them to be out of the office.”
Grassi said the Environmental Health Division was severely behind on its food inspections when she joined Merced County in 2012. However, she said the division is now on track with current year inspections for food facilities.
Grassi said she’ll continue to monitor the Environmental Health Division, keeping her door open for staff to discuss concerns and reminding supervisors their actions could lead to negative perceptions.
“Perception is 99 percent reality,” Grassi said. “I told them unless you have a personnel matter going on, the door stays open. Unless you have a lunch meeting, you meet here in the department.”
Sun-Star staff writer Ramona Giwargis can be reached at (209) 385-2477 or rgiwargis@mercedsunstar.com.

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