Restaurant grades pose a dilemma

Department has no easy way to penalize those with low grades

Flathead County's restaurant inspection program has some teeth, but takes a long time to chew when enforcing its regulations.

That's how Joe Russell, director of the Flathead City-County Health Department, described the revamped program's enforcement challenges.

Last November, the health department changed how it grades restaurants on sanitary matters - switching from numerical grades of up to 100 to an A-B-C-D-F system.

The restaurant inspectors are still working on some kinks in the new system.

One kink involves what to do with restaurants that consistently get Ds and Fs under the new system.

That matter surfaced at a Thursday Board of Health meeting with a discussion on what to do with a Kalispell restaurant that has scored two Ds and an F in the past few weeks. One D and one F were scored on routine follow-up inspections.

The health department does not have the legal authority to automatically shut down a restaurant if it receives a specific grade or specific series of grades. The exception is if a contagious disease surfaces.

Instead, the health department must either pursue the matter through court or start a lengthy administrative law process that includes appeals to the health board and the state. During that time, the targeted restaurant would remain open.

Two months into its new grading system, the health department is waiting until the new program is six months old - when each county food service will be inspected at least once - before requesting permission from the board to post all the scores on a Web site.

The scores are published monthly in the Daily Inter Lake.

The health department wants to work out some wrinkles in the system and ensure every restaurant has been scored when the Web site opens.

The health department also wants to develop a policy on how restaurants can be made to fix their bad scores.

At that time, the health department also might approach the board on whether a restaurant's grade should be visibly posted at the establishment - an approach dubbed "scores on doors."

Board chairwoman Nan Askew said: "If I walk into a restaurant and see a 'D' at the door, I'd be turning around and walking out. That would be a great incentive" for a restaurant to improve.

Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com