This isn’t a big deal. It’s not nearly as consequential as the Scott administration’s fumbling (and/or deliberately sabotagey) response to widespread homelessness or its stubborn stay-the-course policy on substance use or its failure to produce a coherent policy on public education or its coddling of subpar administrators. But it’s yet another entry in the big fat ledger of incompetence that the administration is assembling.

I’m talking about Auditor Doug Hoffer’s latest audit (downloadable here), which reviews how the Department of Health’s Food and Lodging Program has been addressing complaints about unsafe or unclean conditions at our state’s hospitality businesses. “Examples include,” his cover letter helpfully enumerates, “complaints alleging bedbug infestations… serving expired food, and handling ready-to-eat food with bare hands.” Hoffer found that the Program often failed to respond promptly to complaints or make sure that offending businesses obeyed improvement orders.

Reminder that the tourism industry is a cornerstone of our economy and public image. It ain’t great if a tourist family comes down with food poisoning or checks into a charming B&B only to find that the beds are full of crawly, bitey things. The Food and Lodging Program is there to safeguard public health and to undergird the state’s tourism industry. Complaints and inspections might be a buzzkill, but they are necessary to ensure that visitors have a positive experience while they’re here.

The Program received nearly 1,100 complaints in a three-year period. Hoffer’s team reviewed 45 of them. It found that 80% of the time, the Program failed to investigate complaints within the time frame it had set out for itself. And in more than two-thirds of the 26 cases where corrective action was ordered, the Program failed to confirm that its orders had been followed.

That’s a small sample size, but those are damning results. More often than not, the Program is not doing its job.

But wait, there’s more! Hoffer also found that the Department of Health “does not measure the performance of the Food and Lodging Program… even though this is a long-standing state requirement.”

When Hoffer publishes an audit, he always includes the official response. They are usually full of excuses and claims that Hoffer’s suggestions are already being implemented. In this case, the Health Department’s response was unusually subdued. Hoffer made eight recommendations, and the Department simply promised to implement all eight.

There were excuses, to be sure: Health Commissioner Rick Hildebrant pointed out that the complaint process is only “one small part of the overall work of the program,” that the staff had to handle flood-related issues as well as the usual stuff, and that the Program “routinely reviews all of its activities for continuous improvement.” [Insert sarcastic chuckle here.]

And then Hildebrant spilled the beans on his own operation. He wrote that national standards call for a staff of 16-18 inspectors for a tourism industry of Vermont’s size, but that the Program “currently has 11.5” on board.

What the actual hell.

If the Program has a problem with pursuing complaints and ensuring compliance, Hildebrant just told us why. They’re trying to operate with two-thirds of the recommended staff!

One more thing. Hildebrant doesn’t write about a hiring effort. Instead, he indicates that it might be time to loosen the standards. Or as he put it, “to consider whether the timelines we have established… are realistic with the program resources available.”

That’s just great. Hey, if we eliminate the public complaint process entirely, we can lay off the rest of the inspectors! Problem solved!

This is a natural consequence of Gov. Phil Scott’s annual order to keep budget requests at or below the rate of inflation, a.k.a. the Guillotine method of financial management. Every year, departments and agencies have to deal with rapidly escalating health care costs for staff, costs that rise much faster than inflation. This means expenses have to be cut, and the only way to do that (in most cases) is to cut personnel. Over time, this has a corrosive effect on the state’s ability to do its job, as we see in Hildebrant’s admission that the Food and Safety Program is sorely understaffed.

This is where I bring up Scott’s failure to effectively implement Lean Management. During his first campaign for governor, Scott touted Lean Management as a way to improve performance while immediately saving at least $55 million a year. It never happened, and Scott never talks about Lean Management anymore. Instead, he rolls out the guillotine every year at budget-writing time, and the quality of government performance continues to decline. The Food and Safety Program’s failure to do its job is just the latest demerit badge on Phil Scott’s chest.