Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 15, 1994 TAG: 9406160004
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
At least one councilman is having second thoughts, too.
Council voted April 5 to ban smoking in town buildings and vehicles, then asked the administrative staff to draw up an ordinance putting the ban into effect.
The Ordinance Committee considered drafts of that policy and ordinance this week but came to no uniform conclusion of what to recommend to the full governing body when it meets June 21.
The four committee members at the meeting agreed to recommend that the ban on smoking in town buildings become effective July 1. They also favored paying the $50 for each employee who enrolls in a smoking cessation program offered by Pulaski Community Hospital.
Town Manager Tom Combiths estimated 40-50 town employees are smokers. Some had asked that smoking rooms be provided while they are trying to kick the habit.
Members of the Police Department are concerned about dispatchers who smoke and are unable to leave their posts to step outside the building for a cigarette. They also want smoking allowed for victims being interviewed and suspects being questioned by police because, they say, it helps calm victims and is a good interrogation tool.
Other town employees complain of second-hand smoke, and say there is no way to keep it from drifting from the Police Department into other parts of the Municipal Building.
``Where are you going to put a room where that smoke never gets out?'' Councilman Don Crispin asked. ``I've got a problem with the smoking ban on the one hand and providing a place for them to smoke while we're trying to get them to stop.''
Councilman Junior Black said driving smokers outside the building for cigarettes would look tacky. ``It's just cheap-looking,'' he said.
``To me, that's the sign of an employer who cares,'' said Councilman Roy D'Ardenne.
Public Works Director Mike Jenkins has 26 employees, 19 of them smokers. ``What I'm concerned about is when I've got my employees out here on extended operations,'' he said.
He said he wouldn't feel right about issuing a reprimand to an employee who smoked while working for 20 or more hours removing snow or fixing a water break. Not allowing smoking in vehicles would mean the employees would have to stop working and step outside the vehicle, often in inclement weather, for a cigarette, he said.
Fire Chief Jeff Hall has has seven paid employees who smoke. ``They're on call at the station 24 hours,'' he said, adding that many volunteers may quit over the ban.
There are times when he responds to a call in his personal car, and is considered "on duty" with the town. ``You telling me that I can't smoke in my own vehicle?'' he asked.
As for volunteers, he said, ``you've got basically the same situation. When they get in their cars and respond to a call, they're on town time.''
The town should have offered the cessation program before scheduling the ban, he said.
``Let's start with the buildings ... sort of creep up on this thing,'' Councilman and Mayor-elect Andy Graham said at the meeting.
Committee members discussed delaying the smoking ban in vehicles until Sept. 1. They finally decided to have Town Attorney Frank Terwilliger draw up several versions of a no smoking policy in town vehicles, and let the full council hash it out.
``It's an emotional issue. We've seen strong comments from both sides,'' Assistant Town Manager Rob Lyons said.
The committee members also studied a proposed amendment to the town zoning ordinance allowing civic, charitable and religious organizations to place directional signs along public rights of way, as requested by a church. But they decided that could lead to too many signs, and killed the proposal in committee.
by CNB