Manchaca Fire Hall Kitchen under fire

MANCHACA, TX (KXAN) - On any given Friday night, folks pull up to the Manchaca Community Center to fill up on fried catfish and live music. A recently added sign sits in front of the open air pavilion that reads "The Clarence Vogel Manchaca Community Center." Locals say if Manchaca had a mayor, it would be Clarence.

For 41 years, Vogel has shons up at the break of dawn during the week to open the doors of his cafe called the Manchaca Fire Hall Kitchen. The name originated from the volunteer fire department that used to operate out of the building. When Travis County took ownership, Vogel continued serving his loyal customers.

He is now 83 years old and in a battle with the county. Of all things, building inspectors found the Fire Hall kitchen full of fire code violations.

"Right now I feel like locking the door and walking out,” said Vogel.

The building inspection conducted July 21 not only stated the kitchen exhaust hood was filled with grease and the air ducts needed to be repaired, but fire extinguishers were not close enough to the cooking equipment, and extension cords needed to be moved to safer spots. The inspection also stated Vogel needed to add illuminated exit signs above certain doors.

"Many of those things are very simple things to repair or correct,’ said Fire Marshal Hershel Lee.

When Lee checked back on Aug. 5, as promised in a hand-delivered violation notice, to see if he had complied with certain high-priority items – nothing had been fixed.

"It's money, costs a lot of money to put in the kinda vent-a-hood they want,” said Vogel.

The fire marshal ordered him to stop using the kitchen hood and ducts.

There was no way Vogel would quit serving, so he had his cooks crank up the grill and cooking equipment in his mobile kitchen on wheels in the back parking lot.

Vogel said he needs more time to comply, but his County Commissioner Karen Huber has grown concerned.

"There are some very definite fire hazards there that we would not want the public to be subjected to that could be very serious if there was a fire,” said Huber.

Before Huber took the precinct three seat in January, she was told there were past problems with Vogel paying rent on time. Instead of his former monthly rent of $500, the new lease agreement renegotiated in June requires Vogel to pay $1500 up front every quarter.

“As far as I know, he's current on payment,” said Huber.

But the county hand-delivered more bad news to the cafe last week. A Breech of License Agreement Letter dated July 29 stated Vogel was using part of the second floor as a private residence and he had failed to provide copies of insurance policies to the county - clear violations of the contract.

Through it all Vogel has continued serving his loyal customers, but that could change. The health department is putting a damper on this mobile kitchen because it does not meet health department standards. They have issued a temporary permit to get him through the weekend.

The Texas Comptroller's Office also said Vogel has not been collecting an additional one-percent sales tax that goes directly to Emergency Services District-5. Spokesperson R.J. DeSilva said the amount Vogel owes is confidential. The ESD tax is an additional tax added about a year ago.

The fire marshal will be back to re-inspect the restaurant August 27th. If the violations are not taken care of, the county could close the business for good.