§ 3270.12. Appeals.

 (a)  Appeals related to the Department’s approval or licensure decisions shall be made under Chapter 9003 of the Public Welfare Manual published at 7 Pa.B. 3264 (November 5, 1977) to be codified at Chapter 30 (relating to licensure/approval/appeal procedures).

 (b)  An operator may appeal a Departmental decision relating to the status of a certificate of compliance of a facility owned or operated by the legal entity.

 (c)  The Department will include information relative to appeal procedures when notifying operators of one or more of the following decisions:

   (1)  The denial of a certificate of compliance.

   (2)  The nonrenewal of a certificate of compliance.

   (3)  The revocation of a certificate of compliance.

   (4)  The issuance of a provisional certificate of compliance.

   (5)  The establishment of a period for which a provisional certificate of compliance is issued.

   (6)  The reduction of the maximum facility capacity.

   (7)  The denial of an increase in facility capacity.

   (8)  The limiting or precluding admission of persons into the facility.

   This section cited in 55 Pa. Code §  3270.241 (relating to requirements specific to school-age programs).

   The Department of Public Welfare’s repeated failure to make timely inspections of day care center which it concealed by issuing provisional certificates based on technical or pretextual deficiencies, then granting retroactive certificates of compliance, enabled the Department to evade scrutiny of operator’s appeal of issuance of provisional certificates of compliance by dismissing operator’s appeal as moot. Musheno v. Department of Public Welfare, 829 A.2d 1228, 1232—1233 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2003). Such conduct by the Department raised important public issues, such as official competency, candor and accountability, which survive mootness. Id. at 1233.