City Hall beefs up restaurant inspection

The City of Gladewater’s now fully-staffed in its Code Enforcement Department, and a portion of the newly-added manpower is being devoted to health inspections.
“We’ve expanded,” Gladewater Building Official Wes Moyers confirmed last week.
Previously, the department’s resources were devoted to an initial inspection for a commercial facility then applied on an incidental basis – i.e. business as usual until when and if a complaint was filed on a restaurant and a new followup inspection was scheduled.
With more hands on deck, “We’ll inspect when they open as a Final Occupancy inspection and health inspection,” Moyers said. “Then, we’re doing them every year when they renew. When we get a complaint, we do a health inspection also.”
In addition to Moyers, the department includes Chris Miller and Keith Bledsoe, meaning the city doesn’t have to rely as much on certified inspectors from the county and state to ensure local establishments have ideal oversight.
“They are doing those inspections even on the food trucks and things like that,” Gladewater City Manager Charlie said. “If we get a complaint on a kitchen, we’re going and checking things out as far as the cleanliness.
Simply put, for anything that’s open to the public, “Our goal is to make sure there is a yearly walk-through on them.”