Vaping ban to be considered at special council meeting Thursday

Hope officials are looking at a ban on e-cigarettes and vaping on town property and are planning a discussion tomorrow to get the ban in place by Heritage Days.

Hope Town Marshal Matt Tallent brought the ban up at the council's monthly meeting last week. Tallent presented the council with a copy of the town's current anti-smoking ordinance to compare with the recently revised Columbus ordinance that banned vaping.  

"Our's does not have any information in there about electronic smoking devices or vape pens or anything like that," Tallent said. "With Heritage Days approaching, I do expect there will be a lot of people out with electronic devices. We need to get... a resolution of our smoking ordinance done so that we can enforce it during Heritage Days."

Tallent said that the current ordinance only allows the enforcement on city property, such as the Town Square, but not the surrounding streets.

"If they step out in the middle of the street, we have no control over that," he said. "As soon as they step out from the square, they have to be 8 feet from the square, before they can smoke."

The current ordinance bans smoking on city-owned property including the town parks, Hope Town Square, and town buildings. Tallent pointed out that state law bans smoking within 8 feet of a business, which would include sidewalks around the square.

Councilwoman Nellie Meek asked how hard it would be to expand the anti-smoking and vaping zone to include the entire area of Hope Heritage Days and other town events, so that people could not wander through the vendor area on town streets while puffing. 

Tallent balked at that suggestion, saying it would be hard to enforce and could lead to officers ticketing drivers smoking in their vehicles. 

"We could ask them, but if you are going to do that, what is to stop us from stopping people smoking going down Jackson Street and ticketing them?" Tallent said. "You are opening up a can of worms."

Miller said that the ordinance would have to be framed in such a way that the expanded zone of enforcement would happen only during public events. Tallent said that the town could work with Heritage of Hope to determine the boundaries for such a change.

While a new ordinance or ordinance change would normally require two public hearings, or "readings," council President Ohmer Miller said he would entertain a motion to suspend the rules and consider the final passage of the ordinance at the upcoming special meeting. Waving the rules for two readings would require a unanimous vote, said Town Attorney Scott Andrews

Andrews said he wanted time to draft and review the proposed ordinance. The last available time for a council meeting before the annual festival was at 5:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

Hope Heritage Days starts at noon on Friday.