Cigarettes? Cigars? Not in this town
The city council Monday voted 6-1 to enact an ordinance that bans cigarette smoking in most areas of Daphne.
The ordinance will allow smoking in 30 percent of hotels, in private clubs and homes and in bars where 65 percent of sales are alcohol. Smoking will also be allowed on smoking patios and 20 feet from public entrances. Any other place is a smoke-free zone. Council President Greg Burnam cast the lone dissenting vote after public participation brought overwhelming support for a strong smoking ordinance. Burnam said a law to truly protect citizens would ban smoking, poisonous automobile emissions and any other health risks. Sabrina Brier urged the council to “pass a no-smoking ordinance that does what it intends to: protect the health of citizens. “I’ve lived in smoke-free communities all my life (in Washington and California) and bars and businesses in these communities have thrived,” she said. “I can’t stress the importance of having a strong ordinance; you’d do a great injustice to this community if you weakened or watered it (the ordinance) down,” Leighanne O’Brian said. Amendments to allow smoking in enclosed areas were proposed by Councilwoman Cathy Barnette, but both failed after receiving no endorsements. Also Monday, the council voted to appropriate $192,564 for additional fire personnel and operating costs; Councilman John Lake cast the lone dissenting vote. City leaders will vote on equipment needs — estimated at $519,780 — during the March 3 meeting. It is unclear whether the firefighters will go to Fire Station 1, the Olde Towne Daphne facility that council members learned was unstaffed. The council will vote separately on equipment needed to man a separate fire station. If equipment appropriation fails, the firefighters will be placed in much needed areas to increase the number of workers on already existing trucks, Barnette said. Lake worried about available resources for the appropriation — or a lack thereof. “I’m not against hiring firefighters, but I don’t know if we have enough funding right now,” he said. Other council members thought need took precedence over financial struggles. “We’ve been fortunate in this city to not have a big fire yet; we need to start preparing for the future,” Councilman Bailey Yelding said. “Even though we respond in four minutes, we only have two people on a truck; you can’t even start to put out a house fire with one person on a hose,” Fire Chief Bo White said. In other business: •City leaders appropriated $82,600 for a 2.5 percent pay increase for city employees, to match that of public safety employees; Councilman Eric Nager cast the lone dissenting vote. •The council annexed Lot 1 of Laurel Springs subdivision on Pollard Road to R-4 high-density, multi-family residential.