MENUCOMMITTEESCALENDARTFA NEWSAlbertville Council OK's Smoking Ban
Sand Mountain Reporter - Writer: Jonathan Stinson - Date Printed: 2010-06-30
The Albertville City Council passed an ordinance Monday night implementing a smoking ban in public places throughout the city.
The council voted to suspend the rules and then unanimously passed the ordinance, which is supposed to go in effect July 15.
“I’m extremely excited that after only three months we were able to come to an agreement on a smoking ordinance for the city of Albertville,” said Councilman Chuck Ellis, who first introduced the smoking ban.
“It was actually introduced on March 21 and I thought it was ironic it passed on June 21, three months to the day later.
“That’s pretty fast for legislation to go through, so to me, it let me know my fellow council members were in support of the ordinance.
“It’s exciting to know we are now going to have a smoke-free city.”
Ellis said now Albertville will allow the estimated 70 percent of Americans who choose to sit in smoke-free sections of restaurants to sit anywhere they want.
He said the intent is to protect the public health and welfare.
“There’s a lot of people that go somewhere and are bothered by smoking but they won’t say anything because they don’t want confrontation,” Ellis said.
The ordinance bans smoking from all enclosed public places in Albertville like laundromats, hotels, motels, bowling facilities and restaurants.
It also bans smoking within 10 feet of from entrances and exits of all indoor areas where smoking is prohibited.
The ordinance also requires all business to provide a smoke-free workplace for employees and requires employers provide a written, no-smoking policy within 90 days of July 15 and to post no-smoking signs at their businesses.
Penalties for violating the ordinance are a fine up to $100 for the first offense, a fine of at least $100 and up to $200 for the second offense, and no less than $200 but not exceeding $500 for the third offense.
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