SOUTH BEND -- St. Joseph County Council proponents of a controversial no-smoking ordinance will attempt to override the County Commissioners' veto of the measure.
The vote, "a simple yes or no," according to Rafael Morton, council president, will take place at the Feb. 14 meeting.
The council's human services and criminal justice committee met Tuesday night and added the vote to the council meeting agenda.
Committee members Randall Przybysz, Dale DeVon, Morton and Michael Kruk briefly discussed the course of action. Absent were committee members Andrew Kostielney, Dennis Schafer and Mark Catanzarite.
A guest at the meeting, County Commissioner Cynthia Bodle, restated her concerns about the ordinance. Bodle and Commissioner Mark Dobson voted against the measure at last week's commissioners meeting and public hearing.
Saying it was the toughest decision she had ever made, Bodle voiced her main problem with the measure: "Some small mom-and-pop businesses just don't have enough time to comply with provisions of the ordinance the way it is currently written," she said.
Committee members acknowledged Bodle's concern.
If the commissioners' veto is overturned and the ordinance stands as passed by the county council, Przybysz will introduce an amendment to extend to one year the compliance deadline for small businesses.
Since the ordinance's constitutionality was questioned at public hearings, the committee reviewed a 2003 opinion from the Indiana attorney general that addressed the constitutionality of "ordinances which provide exemptions to smoking bans in public places."
The document noted that the Indiana Supreme Court in 2002 upheld a similar measure in Fort Wayne when a restaurant owner challenged its constitutionality.