Leaders of The Way Station met with representatives from the San Bernardino County Environmental Health Services yesterday and the meeting was a success. Reporter Heather Clisby has details…
The Way Station, a food ministry based in Joshua Tree, recently faced compliance issues and feared a shut down by the San Bernardino County. Last Thursday, Founding Director Steve Cook and Co-Director Dennis Potter met with four representatives of the Environmental Health Services Department, and experienced a positive dialogue.
Said Cook, “The first thing they said was, ‘We don’t want to close you down, we want to work with you.’” A productive discussion ensued about how the Way Station could become compliant on a number of issues. Priority one is the septic tank, which due to the many people the ministry serves (30-100 daily), must be upgraded from 750 gallons to a commercial-sized tank, 1200-1500 gallons.
The county did determine that the Way Station’s two refrigerated trucks – a 1995 model and 1990 model – are outdated and must be switched out for 2010 models or newer by the first of the year.
But Cook says that other than state compliance laws, the county is not enforcing any hard deadlines as long as the ministry moves forward to address these issues. Said Cook, “I was very encouraged by the sincerity of the county. It’s one thing to get a piece of paper and another to meet in person. Most of the time we have a communication breakdown and I’ve lost a lot of sleep over the last year over this but today, things are looking up.”
