Daily Reporter
It did get a little nasty, but the debate finally is over.
A heavily disputed city ordinance that will eliminate smoking in some public places was adopted Thursday night by the Greenfield City Council.
With a 5-2 vote, the ordinance, with only a few amendments, passed its second and third readings. It will go into effect March 1, 2006.
Council members Jon Clark, Marilyn Levering, J.D. Fortner, D.J. Davis and Dick Pasco voted in favor of the ordinance; Jason Horning and Kelly McClarnon voted against it.
“To me it should be all or nothing to be fair,” Horning said prior to the final readings.
The council also adopted a handful of amendments: They included fixing some of the legal descriptions of the new law; adding language to prevent lit cigarettes from being used as props in performances; removing a clause that would have prevented smoking in vehicles; and adding language to allow a hotel/motel owner to determine how many rooms could be rented to smokers.
An amendment to ban smoking in bars never made it to a vote.
The ban will include restaurants where the majority of revenue is gathered from the sale of food and non-alcoholic beverages. That means bar areas of Zoobies and other restaurants will have to go smoke-free. Places like Jersey’s Bar & Grill, which operates primarily as a bar, will not be affected by the ordinance. Neither will private clubs.
Violations of the ordinance will command a $100 fine.
Pasco had suggested the measure to allow innkeepers the right to determine the number of smoking rooms.
“Who are we to tell a local business owner the number of rooms they can rent to guests?” he asked. “We should leave that up to them.”
As was the case when the ordinance was introduced two weeks ago, every seat and available area in the council chambers were filled to capacity. This time, the mood was more contentious: Some of the nearly three dozen people who addressed the council – on both sides of the issue – w ere heckled by audience members.
McClarnon, after a brief council break, admonished the audience.
“Please remember whether this ban is passed or not, we are all still citizens of Greenfield,” he said. “Try to refrain from the little snipping that is going on.
Both the owners of Zoobies and Jersey’s attended the meeting to protest the ban and said no one from the council had spoken to either of them prior to passing the new ordinance.
Jersey’s owner Christina Abades said she picked Greenfield to open her business because it was a good place for a woman to own a business. She said prohibiting people from smoking in her bar would drive business into Marion County which recently passed an ordinance that still allows smoking in restaurants and bars that serve only those over 18.
“I’d like to keep tax dollars here,” she told the council.
John Zubak, owner of Zoobies and Ponderosa in Greenfield, said he isn’t a smoker and has a smoke-free environment at Ponderosa. But he is against a smoking ban.
“I hate smoke; it makes me sick,” he said. “But I’m a businessman.”
Both Fortner and McClarnon asked Zubak questions about his two businesses and the difference a smoke-free environment has made on his business.
“Sales have been down, but it’s minuscule,” he said.
Prior to its adoption, which brought loud applause from the audience, Horning voiced his feelings on the issue.
“This ban is going to pass, but it’s not going to protect the children whose parents smoke at home and in vehicles,” he said.