SOUTHWICK – The Board of Health changed their food permit fee regulations at their meeting this week. According to Board of Health Director Tom FitzGerald, previously restaurants would be fined $50 a week for a total of three weeks with $150 being the maximum fine they could be penalized if their food permit was not paid by the specified deadline. Those limits on fines didn’t give the Town of Southwick much authority.
“We didn’t have any regulations for after the first month,” said FitzGerald.
Under the new regulations, food establishments will be charged $50 a day for every day they’re late paying the food permit past the deadline.
Board of Health Director Tom FitzGerald. (WNG File Photo)
“Hopefully they’ll get the message,” said FitzGerald.
FitzGerald noted that this new change to the regulations is still pending and most likely won’t be in effect until the upcoming fall or winter. He will be sending out letters notifying all food establishments in Southwick about the new regulations.
Also included in the revised regulation, any food establishment in Southwick that has a liquor license, will have their liquor license on hold until they pay their permit fee. The Board of Health has been working with the Select Board office to coordinate that part of the regulation.
The reason for changing the food permit guidelines goes back to May when FitzGerald informed the Westfield News that there were seven food vendors in town that hadn’t paid their required permit fee to operate as a licensed food business in Southwick. The deadline to pay the fee was on May 21. FitzGerald noted that if a place didn’t pay the fee by May 21, a $150 fine would be issued by the Board of Health.
The original deadline to pay the permit was January 1, but it was then extended to January 31. Despite that, FitzGerald decided not to issue fines and sent out letters to those respective establishments to remind them to pay the permit fee.
In June, FitzGerald reported to the Select Board that all seven restaurants had paid or were in the process of paying.
