PHOTO: The San Juan Basin Health offices on South 8th Street will soon be serving as the home of the Archuleta County Public Health Department.
The Archuleta County Public Health Department (ACPHD) and the Pagosa Springs Chamber of Commerce will host local restaurateurs at Rosie’s Pizzeria on Tuesday, December 5 at 10am to give owners a chance to meet ACPHD’s newly-appointed Environmental Health Specialist, Angelica Leslie.
Leslie will be handling health inspections for the County beginning with the department’s January 1 launch.
The meet and greet will include discussion regarding rules, regulations and permits for business owners who serve food in any capacity. Recent constituent concerns about permit renewals and deadlines have generated the scheduled meeting. Any operations associated with the handling of food and food preparations will not only have the opportunity to meet Leslie, but also to gain insight from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s (CDPHE) health inspection trainer, Cody Sprague and San Juan Basin Basin Public Health’s current inspector, Aaron McDowell.
Leslie and McDowell have been working hand in hand throughout the transition process.
“We are happy to host an opportunity for restaurant owners to meet our new staff and ask questions,” ACPHD Director Ashley Wilson stated. “We are glad to have a representative from CDPHE and SJPBH join us to ensure we can answer all questions.”
ACPHD’s health and food safety department’s purpose is to train and teach business owners proper protocol and operations in order to follow state statute which includes mandatory sanitation maintenance, cleanliness in food preparation, water sources and food storage, which are part of the regulatory items the department has to enforce. In addition to educating business owners on these topics, Leslie will discuss the extended deadline for required yearly permits and their changing renewal deadlines due to the dissolution of SJBPH, and subsequent opening of ACPHD.
Lesile comes to ACPHD from the Pagosa Springs Medical Center where she previously worked as a Dietary Supervisor. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Durango’s Fort Lewis College, is Colorado Serv-Safe certified, and has completed health-related courses at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City.
For more information on this event, call the ACPHD office, 970-264-8441.
The Archuleta Board of County Commissioners appointed the Board of Health members on November 21, 2023 at the Regular Meeting of the BOCC. The Board will consist of the following members with varied terms:
- Commissioner Warren Brown
- Commissioner Veronica Medina
- Jessica Cox
- Stacey Foss
- Jon Bruss
Meetings of the Board of Health will be announced in the coming weeks.