Unhealthy conditions at senior center take months to remedy

It took more than three months for city crews to clean the Costa Mesa Senior Center after it failed a health inspection and was hit with two code violations.

Orange County Health Care Agency officials found evidence of old rat droppings on the floor behind the oven and determined that the walls, floors and ceilings were unsanitary during their inspection Feb. 3, according to the county report.

Although the agency recommends that all violations be remedied immediately, it took until May 16 for the city’s cleaning service to respond, said Penny Loomer, the city’s interim recreation manager.

In the meantime, Community SeniorServ — an organization that provides meals at a low cost for seniors — continued to serve hot lunches from the center’s kitchen.

Loomer, who started her job with the city in February, said she is not sure why it took several months to have the kitchen cleaned.

The city typically cleans the kitchen about four times a year, Loomer said.

After the inspection, county officials sent the report to Community SeniorServ, which notified senior center staff. The senior center staff then contacted the city to schedule the cleaning.

News of the failed health inspection comes as the senior center board and Costa Mesa officials continue to negotiate the city’s takeover of the financially troubled center.

The delay in cleaning the kitchen is representative of the communication problems between city staff and the center, said Councilwoman Wendy Leece.

“There’s a big chasm between the city and the senior center,” Leece said. “Determining who’s going to fix things and whose responsibility it is to fix certain things is not always clear. With something like this, we should try to work together and solve the problem.”

Leece pointed to turnover in city staff as another possible reason for the holdup.

Aviva Goelman, the center’s executive director, said the delay resulted from a scheduling problem with the city’s cleaning service.

In order to continue using the kitchen for the lunch program, the city couldn’t clean it until late at night or on weekends.

“It was reported a few times,” she said. “They were having a problem scheduling it because it couldn’t be done during the day.”

The county’s Health Care Agency inspects the senior center annually. Because the food generally comes pre-made, it doesn’t need to be inspected more often, said Karen Nu, the program manager for the county’s Food Safety Program.

The center is not due for inspection again until February.