At Tuesday’s Pittsburg City Commission meeting, the commission asked city attorney Henry Menghini to draft an ordinance for consideration about a ban on smoking in enclosed public places.
Thursday, that plan may have been overruled after the Kansas Legislature passed a bill banning smoking in public places throughout the state.
Pittsburg Mayor Rudy Draper said the state measure takes the pressure off the city.
“I haven’t talked to the city manager about it,” Draper said. “It might slow ours down a bit. Once the governor signs it, I think it goes into effect July 1. That would take precedence over ours. It’ll probably put a halt to ours. Unless the governor vetoes it, then we’ll restart ours, but I don’t expect that to happen.”
Both Draper and Commissioner Bill Rushton said that they would have to wait for Menghini’s draft ordinance before deciding how to proceed.
Rushton said that he is the only smoker on the commission, yet is trying to quit. He also said that he is a bit conflicted about the idea of a smoking ordinance.
“I don’t know how you can tell a person who owns a business how to operate his or her business,” Rushton said. “But I want to see what Henry draws up after looking at the state statute. We may be more restrictive than the state, we may not.”
Draper expressed concern over the quick turnaround date of July 1 for statewide compliance.
“We’ll have to enforce the state law now,” Draper said. “I hope the local economy has time to adjust to the situation. July 1 is not a lot of time to get ready for them.”
Rushton also questioned how involved the state may get into people’s habits.
“How many people with kids are really taking them into a sports bar?” Rushton said. “If I’m 21 and want a cigarette and a beer at the bar, I think that should be fine. I don’t hear as much of a problem with drinking in public then driving home. I just have a difficulty with telling people what they can and can’t do. It seems we’re moving to a Big Brother attitude, telling people what they’re going to do and how they’re going to do it.”
Draper said that if people have an issue with the statewide ban, it’s out of the commission’s hands at this point. Preferably, Draper said, the city would have some type of control over the local ordinances, but that is not the case now that the statewide ban has been passed.
“If the state passes it, we don’t have to pass it,” Draper said. “If it’s statewide, there’s nothing we can do about them. Statewide resolutions can only be changed at the state level. If we got this done at the city level, we can amend, add, drop some things. At this time, since it’s at the state level, we’re kind of at their mercy.”
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 132.
