Vickie Hamilton
What happens when a facility fails an important inspection? Closure? Fines? Costly repairs? Loss of insurance? Reinspection? In fact, all of the above are possible depending on the type of inspection violation. Therefore, it is important to maintain and operate our facilities with a careful eye to preventative maintenance and so that every inspection will result in a positive outcome. Fortunately, Director of Facilities Ken Sergio is quite familiar with the inspection process and ensures consistent compliance and passing of inspections with flying colors! Some local inspectors have commented that PebbleCreek is one of the “best commercial properties ever inspected.”
PebbleCreek is subject to numerous inspections from external sources as well as internal inspections. The most significant areas of inspection include:
The Goodyear Fire Department performs in-system inspections twice a year on each building and looks for over 250 items including storage, combustibles, sprinklers, extinguishers, etc. They also perform inspections on special events such as the Creative Arts Festival, DesertFest, etc.
Maricopa County Health Department inspects food services including our restaurants and food outlets at least four times per year. Our inspections have been so outstanding that the County brings FDA inspectors that are in training to Toscana’s to show them what an outstanding food operation should look like. Although extensive with two restaurants, Portofino’s Snack Bar, Ed’s Dogs and a full service catering operation, our Food & Beverage Department’s record is stellar. Only a few very minor infractions have been noted in the past and corrected immediately. All food service inspections have passed with A ratings reflecting the great job done by our Food & Beverage Department. Facilities and Food & Beverage perform internal mock inspections between Health Department inspections to insure that standards are consistently kept high.
Maricopa County pool inspections are conducted twice a year checking water chemistry, equipment safety and security fencing. Facilities keeps a daily log of the maintenance and care of the pools including readings from water tested 2:00 a.m., 5:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. for chlorine, acidity, alkalinity and temperature. Equipment is adjusted and calibrated accordingly to test results. Facilities has an employee trained and assigned specifically to work on the pools. Work begins every morning at 1:00 a.m. The employee works on the Tuscany pools for four hours, then works on the Eagle’s Nest pools for four hours, cleaning, testing, cleaning tile and checking and calibrating equipment.
Once a year PebbleCreek’s insurance carrier performs an annual audit and walks every building and common area to insure compliance and insurability. Failure to meet requirements could end in insurance cancellation or exceptions or stipulations added as riders to the insurance. Fortunately PebbleCreek has repeatedly aced these inspections with flying colors!
Facilities performs ongoing inspections to ensure that each building, department and service will comply with outside inspections. The preventative maintenance program is also a key factor to keeping equipment and facilities up to par for these very important inspections. Fortunately, with our outstanding staff, the vast majority of inspections have outstanding results. Any occasional small infractions are so minor, they are corrected immediately upon discovery. We are lucky to have a dedicated Facilities staff that keeps our facilities in excellent working order and protects the long term value of our physical assets as well as the safety and comfort of our residents and guests.