Norwood Health Board Clashes With Director Over Restaurant Inspections-August 23, 1977

The dispute centers on ongoing evaluations of local food-serving establishments and follows an explicit charge by the board that Bartley J. King failed to carry out formal municipal orders to conduct regular, timely restaurant inspections.

Two weeks ago, at the direct request of the board, Bartley J. King submitted eight inspection records. Last night marked the first time the health board publicly commented on the adequacy of those documents. Chairman Kenneth E. Webber informed the board that two separate reports filed for a single restaurant appeared to have been “written by different people”. Kenneth E. Webber pointed out that one sheet was written entirely in longhand and properly signed, while the other was a printed copy that omitted a verification signature, containing merely the name of the interviewed establishment representative. The specific dates associated with this double inspection sheet were revealed to be April 19 and May 27. Furthermore, Kenneth E. Webber asserted that Bartley J. King routinely fails to specify concrete reinspection dates on his field sheets, which effectively grants restaurants an indefinite period of grace to rectify problems. He concluded that there has been an absolute lack of adequate follow-up enforcement at establishments where health code violations appear to exist.

In response to the deficiencies, Kenneth E. Webber introduced a multi-part motion requiring the public health director to systematically record the precise times he enters and leaves every business, and to mandate a physical validation signature from a restaurant representative to prove an inspection occurred. Kenneth E. Webber also suggested implementing a strict seven-day deadline for restaurants to correct any discovered health code violations.

Bartley J. King delivered no new inspection records last night and strongly defended his actions. He reiterated his ongoing claim that it is a physical impossibility for a single official to check all 82 food-serving establishments in the town of Norwood every six months, as strictly mandated by the state sanitary code. “I haven’t had time to make any follow-up,” Bartley J. King stated, complaining that a town the size of Norwood requires a dedicated staff of two or three people to thoroughly handle the inspection workload.

He reacted defensively to the board’s new administrative demands, stating that he does not agree with them and that no law exists forcing a restaurant representative to sign an inspector’s sheet. “This isn’t Russia,” Bartley J. King complained regarding the proposed seven-day compliance mandate, warning that imposing such rigid regulatory deadlines means the board of health could be “heading for lawsuits”. He added that if an inspector made such signature demands at a business he personally owned, “I’d tell him where to go”. Despite his objections, Bartley J. King ultimately stated he would attempt to comply with the board’s operational requests. Neither the board nor the health director would release the specific names of any of the inspected businesses, and a previous July 25 request by The Patriot Ledger to make the town’s inspection records public was officially denied by the board under advice from town counsel, who ruled the documents were not prepared for a public purpose.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger