Teton commissioners to approve food + pool safety enforcement MOU April 7

Teton County commissioners are scheduled April 7 to approve a renewed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Wyoming Department of Agriculture’s Consumer Health Services Division that spells out who does what for local food-safety and public pool/spa health enforcement in Teton County. The agreement has been expired since 2021, according to the county’s staff report. Teton County Staff Report.

Under the MOU, Teton County would have “primary authority” to administer and enforce the locally adopted Teton Health District rules for food safety and for public pools and spas — including inspections, denial of license applications, cease-and-desist orders, embargos, summary suspensions, and license-revocation hearings (held before the Teton District Board of Health). The state would retain primary authority for meat and poultry slaughter/processing, food manufacturing and processing, transportation/warehousing/distribution, and food labeling, and would keep sole responsibility for issuing licenses and distributing inspection-fee revenue to the county as state law requires. Teton County Staff Report.

The MOU also lays out how variance requests would be handled: a panel of experts selected from local health departments and the state Consumer Health Services division would consider and decide variance requests, with approved variances added to a licensee’s file and then enforced locally. The county projects its share of inspection fees would total about $108,500 in FY2026 and $134,700 in FY2027 (the latter contingent on a proposed fee increase). Teton County Staff Report.