Sanitarian position

County pursuing new sanitarian position

By Ted Pennekamp

Crawford County has requested the new position of sanitarian, which will be administered by the county health department. 

County Nurse Gloria Wall explained that the tasks of limited agents under the Wisconsin Department of Health and Human Services have now been transferred to the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP). These tasks include the inspection of hotels, motels, campgrounds and tourist rooming houses.

Wall said the county has applied to DATCP to have full agent (sanitarian) status rather than the current limited agent status. She said the county is expecting the full agent status to be granted and that the county will have a sanitarian by sometime in June of 2018.

The sanitarian will be able to inspect hotels, motels, campgrounds, tourist rooming houses, schools, grocery stores, restaurants, bed and breakfasts, public swimming pools and convenience stores. The sanitarian cannot inspect farms.

Wall said that Crawford and Vernon counties are working together in their request for full agent status. She said a nurse in Vernon County is already training to become a sanitarian and that the eventual sanitarian from Crawford County will be working under the authority of the one in Vernon County, which will have a lab.

The sanitarian position will be full time and will either be a new hire or a current nurse who will become the sanitarian. 

“The goal is to maintain the low cost of licensing and to increase local involvement,” said Wall, who noted that it will cost a lot less to have a sanitarian from Crawford County inspect a business rather than someone coming from Madison or farther. Plus, local businesses would be working with someone they are probably familiar with, rather than someone from outside of the area whom they don’t know.

Wall said sanitarians inspect for cleanliness and to make sure the laws are being followed and that businesses have the proper licenses. It’s not fair, for example, to have businesses that follow the rules and have the proper licenses, while a few others do not. A Crawford County sanitarian would be able to deal with these types of complaints sooner than someone from outside of the area.

The new sanitarian position has the potential to generate a little more income for Crawford County as well. It is hoped that the new position generates about $10,000 per year even after 10 to 20 percent of the license fees go to the state for running the program. The current income is approximately $8,000 per year.