CC Minutes - 11/13/00 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Councilor Pap~, seconded by Councilor Nathanson, moved to amend the ordinance by exempting facilities that had a fully enclosed smoking area inside. Councilor Rayor referred Councilor Pap~ to a letter from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (©LCC) which said that alcohol could not be served or consumed in separate smoking rooms located in adult establishments. Councilor Pap~ commented on the difficulty of the ordinance for all concerned. He remarked that business owners had the right to have the kind of patrons that they wanted in their facility. He added that he disagreed with the content of the ©LCC letter and said that bar, tavern, and bingo parlor owners could work with the ©LCC to figure out a monitoring plan. Councilor Nathanson commented that if ©LCC could have come up with a solution it would have been in the letter that was submitted to the council. She said that she had concluded there was no way to make separate smoking rooms work. Councilor Kelly said that the only data that he had seen from ©LCC said that smoking rooms could not be done. He raised concern that designated smoking rooms would open the door to abuse. Councilor Bettman reiterated that the ©LCC had said that separate smoking rooms could not be done. She opined that rules around such rooms would be unenforceable. Mayor Torrey complimented Councilor Pap~ on his amendment but said that he would have suggested a separate, self-ventilated room with no drinking allowed but where people could go to smoke. He said that this would take care of the problem of not being allowed to serve in such a room because there would be no service available there. He noted that if the vote was a tie he would support Councilor Papa's amendment. Councilor Pap~ stated that rights of workers were enforced by the Department of Labor and that any worker could file a complaint there if they were being coerced to do something that was not lawful. He reiterated that bar owners and the ©LCC could come up with a solution without interference by the City Council. The amendment failed 6:2, with councilors Pap~ and Nathanson voting yes. Councilor Pap~, seconded by Councilor Fart, moved to amend the motion by allowing the ordinance to provide for a separate indoor smoking area which was to be ventilated by a separate air cleaning system. The air standard would need to be defined prior to implementation of the ordinance by the City Manager and his staff and no alcohol serving or use would be allowed in the room. Councilor Rayor noted that the bar owner would still be responsible for monitoring the room to make sure that no illegal activity went on there. MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 13, 2000 Page 10 Regular Meeting