Ryan Forrider, of Richwood, is a tattoo artist with 12 years of experience under his belt, and has independently run the only tattoo parlor in Marysville, Fair Winds Tattoo, since 2014. The Union County Health Department recently raised fees for becoming licensed, but Forrider thinks that’s justified, given the hard work the department puts in to maintaining safety and cleanliness. He is pictured giving a tattoo to Jake Byerly of Marysville.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Jacob Runnels)
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Ryan Forrider, of Richwood, has been tattooing for 12 years at many locations.
The Richwood resident has worked with many health departments when it comes to inspections and licensing issues. In fact, he’s maintained good relations with the personnel at the Union County Health Department (UCHD).
When he found out the UCHD voted to increase tattoo and piercing licensing costs from $225 to $250 at its November board meeting, he was okay with it. Though the price increase is going to put pressure on his business, he’s not hurting for money.
“I feel like the health department is doing the best it can,” Forrider said. “If I wanted a raise, I’d just come in on a day off and tattoo. If I wanted to make more, I’d schedule more appointments.”
Knowing how often a health department performs inspections, Forrider said he understands why the fee would go up. He said the UCHD works hard to make sure facilities maintain safety and cleanliness.
But there’s also the factor that the fee went up when he operates the only tattoo parlor in town.
UCHD Health Commissioner Jason Orcena also explained the price increase for 2019 is a reflection of 2017 data. He said next year, the department would collect only less of what it cost in 2018 because the department can’t assess inflation or other changes at that time.
“We are always left with never charging what the program actually costs,” Orcena said.
With that, Orcena said the department can’t simply take funds from other items on the environmental health fee schedule to pay for any deficit incurred by extra tattoo inspections.
Marcia Dreiseidel, director of environmental health at the UCHD, said the fee goes toward performing inspections on tattoo facilities, and to educate UCHD sanitarians on what to do. She said the inspections make sure cleanliness is upheld. The licensing is renewed with the UCHD every December.
“We try to do two or more inspections a year, and we’d like to try and do four (inspections) a year,” Dreiseidel said. “We exceed state the state law when we do our inspections.”
Dreiseidel said the rise in tattoo and microblading facilities sprouting in the county in recent years helped contribute to the price bump. With more facilities to inspect and sanitarians to check for cleanliness, it put a strain on the department’s funds for tattoo responsibilities.
“We’ve had more shops come and go, so there’s planning and review and inspection that goes into each of those,” Dreiseidel said. “There’s been a little more activity in the last couple of years.”
Dreiseidel said the licensing fees have been the same since 1998, when tattoo regulation became law in Ohio. She said there weren’t even inspections before 1998.
Forrider said he feels the price increase is justified, as he sees Dreiseidel and the department’s health sanitarians to be “overwhelmed.”
“Honestly, I think the reason they increase their prices, though, is because they’re overworked as well,” he said.
Forrider said he doesn’t think the licensing fees are enough of a deterrent for tattoo shops to come into Marysville, or even the county. He said it’s usually the city’s regulations and zoning that harm a business more than a fee increase.
“Why am I the only tattoo shop in town?” Forrider said. “It’s not the health department that’s the issue, necessarily.”
Since he’s set up shop in 2014, Forrider has carefully maintained his business to not only express cleanliness to the UCHD and his customers, but also to survive.
He’s the only one who performs tattoos at his shop, and it’s only open by appointment. This schedule allows him to work on tattoos part-time, while he takes up other jobs such as working at a sawmill. He’s worked hard to renovate his shop behind Domino’s Pizza, and he likes the steady flow of customers seeking tattoos.
Forrider said he appreciates having an entity like the UCHD to make sure facilities are licensed, especially after he heard about a story in Bellefontaine when a minor was tattooed by another unlicensed minor in his home.