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

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Councilor Bettman read from the conclusion of an Occupational Health and Safety Administration workshop dealing with the idea of separate smoking rooms. She noted that enforcement of ventilation standards would require the construction of new regulatory bureaucracies. She said that in order to create a ventilation system to remove the toxins from the room it would resemble a wind tunnel. Addressing Councilor Bettman, Councilor Pap~ noted that people went into a smoking room to smoke and therefore would not need the kind of super ventilation that she described. Councilor Nathanson raised concern that toxins from cigarette smoke would get commingled with the ventilation system of the nonsmoking area. Councilor Rayor concurred with Councilor Nathanson. He said that the City was not set up to monitor air quality in bars. Councilor Bettman opined that there would be difficulty in egress and egress of such a room without letting toxins escape into the non smoking area. Councilor Meisner said that he did not see how such an amendment could work practically. The amendment failed, 6:2, with councilors Pap~ and Fart voting yes. The main motion passed unanimously, 8:0. City Manager Johnson asked the council to consider Council Bill 4748 by number only. Councilor Taylor, seconded by Councilor Nathanson, moved that the bill be approved and given final passage. Councilor Fart raised concern that by passing the proposed ordinance the City was setting up a migration of customers to outside the city limits to establishments that still allowed smoking. He said that he would vote against the motion, even though he was for it in principle, because it was limited to the City of Eugene and not being implemented statewide. Councilor Rayor clarified that establishments who opted for outdoor smoking areas were allowed an additional 180 days past the implementation date of July 1, 2001, to construct those areas. He suggested allowing establishments in dense areas to build into their setbacks so that they could have outdoor smoking areas as well. In response to a question from Mayor Torrey regarding a special response fee assessed to smokers who refused to leave an establishment, City Manager Johnson called attention to page 125 of the packet and said that the proposed special response fee did not apply to smokers who refused to leave an establishment. The motion passed 7:1, with Councilor Fart voting no, and became Ordinance No. 20215. VI.ACTION: An Ordinance Concerning a Special Response Fee; and Adding Section 4.775 to the Eugene Code, 1971 MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 13, 2000 Page 11 Regular Meeting