By By ANDY HAMILTON / Niles Daily Star
NILES – An advocate for a ban on smoking in public places in Berrien County admits the proposed regulation has little legal bite.
Only three fines for violating smoking bans have been issued in 17 Michigan counties with clean ordinances.
However, she said the proposed smoking ban, if passed, will be mostly self policing.
Berrien County's Board of Commissioners will hold a second public hearing on the proposal at 7 p.m. at the South County Courthouse in Niles on Thursday and is expected to vote on the proposal during the meeting that will follow the hearing.
Theresa Green, director of community health planning for the Berrien County Health Department, said one of the main reasons non-smoking ordinances are so effective is because often the policies are self enforced by businesses.
And, a business owner is usually only warned once before complying with a non-smoking regulation.
She also admitted such a low figure could reflect the fact there are no county employees with the specific duty of enforcing non-smoking regulations.
"Some of it is that," there are no specific enforcers looking for smoking, Green said. "A lot of it is a lot of businesses have gone smoke free. I like to think a lot of it is complaints that come in are addressed by employers."
If passed, the Clean Air Regulation would prohibit smoking in all enclosed work places and public places, excluding bars and restaurants.
The Clean Indoor Air Regulation only applies to work places defined as enclosed areas under the control of public or private employers, and public places; any enclosed area to which the public is invited or in which the public is permitted.
Employers of areas that are regulated must provide a smoke-free workplace, including an area up to 25 feet outside of any entrance, must post non-smoking signs and must have a written smoking policy.
Smoking would not be not regulated in food service establishments, in private residences that are not businesses, in tobacco specialty stores, or properties of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians.
The Clean Air Regulation if passed would be enforced by the county health department. Michael A Mortimore, health officer/director for the Berrien County Health Department, said the organization would not send people specifically out to investigate or look for certain smoking violations.
"It is not something we are anticipating is going to create a tremendous workload and involvement in that regard," Mortimore said. "You have to look where time and energy and dollars need to be spent and I don't think it's fruitful … to just have people walking around looking for these types of violations."
Instead, Mortimore said health department staff members on normal operations, such as building inspectors and environmental health workers would report any possible violations of the Clean Air Regulation. The health department would investigate any reports from health department employees or customers of businesses further, and a warning would most likely follow, Mortimore said.
John LaMore, Berrien County commissioner for Niles Township, said there's always going to be people who work around such a regulation.
"I think primarily enforcement is going to be complaint driven," LaMore said, adding the Clean Air Regulation would likely be similar burning ordinances.
"Those are also primarily health driven and while you can drive around and see people regularly violating the burning ordinance, unless somebody complains the fire department does not drive around and enforce that," he added.
Voting in favor of the Clean Air Regulation raises concerns of violating individual rights, LaMore said. He said individuals on both sides of the issue would be affected if the ban is passed, but added he still feels the person who is smoking is infringing on the rights of those who aren't.
"The toughest hurdle for me in this vote is infringing on individual's rights," LaMore said. I have a definite concern that's going to hang with me in the vote. But I also have to weigh the rights of all concerned and that is where the scales tip to the health of those that are not smokers."
An alternative idea presented to the board of commissioners proposed businesses that wish to allow smoking purchase permits from the county allowing them to do so. LaMore said many options and information from other Michigan counties with similar bans have been considered.
"Truly, there has been a lot of consideration from all of the commissioners. This is something that was just ram-rodded and sent through. Info from other counties that have considered this," LaMore said. "For me, it's either right or wrong. To get a permit to do something that is wrong would be sending a very bad message. The issue here is health and health effectiveness. If you were only affecting yourself this wouldn't even be up for consideration."