It is not the job of the village restaurant inspector to be popular. And by that measure Cameron Hendricks is doing well.
New in the job a year ago and having replaced a 20-year department veteran, Hendricks has moved the needle in issuing citations and wins comments from restaurateurs ranging from hostility to grudging respect.
Hendricks, 31, goes by the formal title of Oak Park environmental health inspector. That means he pokes around local restaurants and grocery stores observing food preparation and storage, hygiene habits of staff members and the physical conditions of the establishments.
Sometimes, he said, owners may get angry with him, but it’s rare. Usually, they understand the importance of the process.
“I think what they hear is basically a lot of dollar signs clicking sometimes,” he said. “Sometimes there’s a lot of time they’ll need to spend, and their first reaction is to be upset.”
Raji Khalil has owned Grape Leaves, 129 S. Oak Park Ave., for several years. Khalil said Hendricks seemed strict at first but got better as he went along. Khalil was more bothered in the past by having to see three different inspectors during his businesses’ life span, all asking him to fix different problems.
“At the beginning, everybody thought he was tough, but at the end I found it helps to be a little bit tough,” Khalil said. “I think it works better for most restaurants, for everybody. They should follow the same routine of inspection. They drive the managers crazy when they keep asking for something different.”
Another owner, on Madison for over five years, who wished to remain unnamed, said Hendricks is thorough but fair.
Basement renovations
Laura Maychruk, the owner of Buzz Café, 905 S. Lombard Ave., is one business owner who has a bone to pick with Hendricks.
In business for almost 10 years, she said the inspector made a request that his predecessor never mentioned.
“He said we need to upgrade our entire basement to make new construction,” she said. “We occupy a 100-plus-year-old building. It would be incredibly costly for us to make the renovations to that.”
Maychruk said Hendricks wants brand new floors, walls and ceiling in the basement, which is basically a full renovation. The café uses the space to store a couple of dry freezers, she said.
In order to meet code, they’d have to dig out the floor of the basement, which involves underpinning, just to get the height requirement. She estimates the cost at $150,000.
“Basically this is absolutely unfeasible, impossible. I’d go out of business,” she said.
Maychruk believes the health department is operating under a worst-case-scenario approach, always expecting the worst on inspections. She said she keeps canned goods on the middle shelf in her basement, but the village is worried that dust might fall onto cans, which might somehow sneak in if anyone were to open them.
“Last inspection, the paper came with citations, and asked when we’ll renovate the basement. It wanted specific dates. I just put 2015 and sent it back, and I haven’t heard a word about it. When 2015 rolls around, I’ll see what they tell me then.”
Critical violations increase
Mike Charley, the village’s environmental health supervisor, has witnessed a “substantial” increase in violations issued over the past year by Hendricks and Kathleen Berens-Haas, the other health inspector who’s been on staff for over 20 years. Charley couldn’t quantify the up-tick, but said it’s not Oak Park restaurants worsening, just a shift in village procedure.
For example, according to village environmental health reports, in the first four months of 2007, 83 percent of inspections included citations considered critical violations. In 2005, just 60 percent of inspections included critical violations.
A village food inspection report lists 45 different categories with 24 possible critical violations, ranging from employee hygiene practices, sewage and waste disposal, safety of water supply, or appropriate food temperatures.
Charley said a big reason for the increase in violations is a change in the adjudication process. Citations are issued through a court in village hall, rather than the previous practice of forcing owners to go through the courthouse in Maywood. This, he said, has sped up and made the process more efficient.
Charley said that in January 2006, the department went through a retooling process, tightening policies and procedures. They’ve worked toward more standardized, thorough inspections which treat every business equally, also focusing on using citations as an educational and informational tool for owners.
Doing the job
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Hendricks studied biology at a small private school in Hiram, Ohio with the idea of getting into pre-med. He changed his mind, but didn’t want to change his major and by chance fell into the health inspection profession, spending time in the public and private sectors.
Eventually, he moved to Illinois where he worked inspecting grocery stores. He returned to government inspecting because it better suited his priorities.
“It may sound corny or clichéd, but I just feel like you’re doing some good for the public,” he said.
When he’s not inspecting grocery stores, mom and pop shops, and restaurants, Hendricks likes to work out, play tennis, or play with his dog. He lives in the Downers Grove area.
“When I do an inspection, I try to be as thorough as possible,” he said. “I think that my job does protect the community.”
“A couple of establishments grumbled a little bit when I pointed out a couple violations, and on the next inspection they were actually thanking me. … That’s the gratifying point, when they realize I’m doing a job that will ultimately benefit them in the end.”