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By Idelia Ulmer, Environmental Health Specialist 4
Do you need a Roadmap for guidance through the new Out of County Mobile Unit Authorization Process? Cobb & Douglas Public Health strongly recommends reviewing the following Step-by-Step Guidance for the “Out of County Mobile Unit Authorization Process, as issued by the Georgia Department of Public Health. Note: There may be some minor changes to this process once state data system changes are implemented to better facilitate the authorization process.
Your Authorization Review information should be submitted to the Environmental Health office in the county where your mobile unit’s base of operations is located – preferably by email, though in-person is also an option. If you need contact information for your Cobb County area inspector, submit your email request to Idelia Ulmer at Idelia.Ulmer@dph.ga.gov or call 770-438-5114. For Douglas County, submit your email request to Patronya Brogdon at Patronya.Brogdon@dph.ga.gov or call 770-920-7311.
Out of County Mobile Unit Authorization Process – Guidance
To begin the process for Authorization, you must start with the county where your base of operations is located. If your base county is Cobb or Douglas. You must submit the following to Cobb or Douglas Environmental Health:
- A list of counties in which you intend to operate
- Toilet and Property Agreements for ALL locations you wish to vend in the listed counties
Note: If you do not have the Toilet/Property Agreements for your outside counties at the time of submitting your list, you can provide them directly to the outside county‘s Environmental Health office when requesting an Authorization to operate within their jurisdiction.
The home/base county will review the submitted information (Toilet/Property Agreements) for completion. The home/base county will then forward all authorization review information to the Environmental Health offices of the counties in which the mobile unit intends to operate. This includes forwarding any Toilet/Property Agreements that are applicable to locations within those counties. The authorization review information that should be forwarded to the outside counties’ Environmental Health offices includes the following:
- Copy of Base of Operation permit
- Copy of Mobile Food Service Unit(s) Permit(s)
- Verification that Annual Inspection Fees are paid
- Current approved Menu
- Pictures of mobile food service unit (inside & out)
- Equipment layouts
- Original Notarized Verification of Residency
As a recommendation, the mobile food service operator should follow up with the outside county’s Environmental Health office to verify they have received the information from their home/base county. If they have received the information, the operator should submit their request for Authorization to the appropriate Environmental Health offices, and they will then begin to process your request. They should now have your authorization review information and the application for Authorization. The outside county’s EH office will use the information received from your home/base county to verify the following:
- Permits are in Good Standing
- Review current/last inspection of base of operation and mobile unit
- Where Permitted/Authorized there are no Public Health or Safety Concerns
- Returns to Base of Operation as required
If the mobile unit complies with everything in the four bullet points above and has all other applicable local approvals from the outside county (e.g., Fire Marshal, Zoning, Business License, etc.), the outside county EH office will complete Page 2 of the Authorization Application and authorize the mobile unit to operate within that county’s jurisdiction.
Click here for location and contact information for all county Environmental Health offices in Georgia.