By PAIGE E. WASSEL, Daily Journal of Johnson County staff writer
While business owners work to get smoke-free by the end of April, Greenwood city officials must figure out the best way to enforce a ban on smoking in businesses and restaurants.
Other cities can offer a model, though some places, like Bloomington, have more restrictive bans than what is planned for Greenwood.
As Greenwood became the first community in Johnson County to pass a smoking ban, other groups are starting to look at similar measures. A countywide ban will be considered by Johnson County health officials today.
City council members said they don’t want to have the enforcement burden fall on police. But they were unable to agree Monday night about what other groups should enforce the ban.
Under the first version of the ban, police were responsible for issuing warnings or citations to people who light up.
The measure will have to primarily rely on voluntary compliance, since officers usually have to see the offender smoking to cite them, Greenwood Police Chief Joe Pitcher said.
Police officers still will be the ones writing tickets when people light up.
In an amendment added Monday, council members gave fire and code enforcement personnel the ability to offer warnings or citations too.
But it is unclear what role other personnel will play in keeping places smoke-free.
Greenwood firefighters may assist police in the same way they help with some violations now, spokesman Lt. Tom Kite said.
About five members of the Greenwood Fire Department are qualified to help police address offenses such as parking in fire lanes.
Kite said they usually try to warn offenders before they cite them.
Similarly, these firefighters would work to watch out for people lighting up as they’re doing other inspections at area restaurants and businesses.
“We’d be another set of eyes,” Kite said.
Greenwood code enforcement officer John Myers said he hasn’t studied the ordinance yet, so he’s not sure how it will work.
Enforcers in other cities with smoking bans said they have had little trouble getting restaurants and businesses to go smoke-free.
Bans in Bloomington and Columbus operate on a complaint-based system, relying mainly on business owners to police themselves.
In Columbus, residents can call the mayor’s office to complain when they see someone lighting up.
Columbus’ fire chief and human resources director are in charge of enforcing the ban, Human Resources Director Chuck Boll said.
Boll said they generally call or meet with businesses first to let them know what is in the ban before they consider issuing a citation.
Since the ban went into effect Feb. 1, they’ve only had a handful of complaints and written one ticket for the $50 fine, Boll said.
“People, I think, have just wanted to do the right thing,” Boll said.
In Bloomington, complainants can e-mail or call an office designated by the city to handle smoking complaints.
A part-time intern sorts through the messages, and passes the information on to the city’s legal department to consider for a warning or citation.
Residents who see people lighting up can fill out an affidavit for city attorneys to follow up on the violation in court.
Police officers also fill out tickets when they see someone smoking and pass the information on to a city attorney.
Andie Vidmar, a part-time intern that handles the complaint line and e-mail account in Bloomington, said she usually handles an average of two complaints per week.
After the ban on smoking in businesses and restaurants went into effect in August 2003, the city had 42 complaints over the next 18 months, assistant city attorney Patricia Mulvihill said.
Almost half of those complaints were during the first month the ban was in place, she said.
City employees said it became more difficult to enforce the law when they required bars and private clubs to be smoke-free.
They can’t write a ticket for anonymous complaints, but some private club members don’t want to be identified for reporting other club members who light up, Mulvihill said.
When officials get reports of bars that are repeatedly violating the ban, they can tip off police to make a walk-through in specific bars, she said.
But when police aren’t members of private clubs, they may not be able to go into the facility and see if someone is smoking, she said.
After Bloomington’s ban on bars and private clubs went into place in January 2005, city attorneys had 146 complaints made over the course of the year, Mulvihill said.
About 76 percent of those complaints were made in the first three months that the ban took effect, Mulvihill said. They’ve issued 23 citations for offenses, which cost $100 per ticket.
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