Tobacco Policy Called 'Over the Top'

Source from:  leelanaunews.com 09/27/2007

The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners voted 5-1 Tuesday evening to ban the use of all tobacco products everywhere on the county's new Government Center Campus in Suttons Bay Township – but not before getting an earful from District No. 3 commissioner Will Bunek. Bunek cast the lone vote against the measure. District No. 2 commissioner Mark Walter, who had supported the measure during the board's executive committee meeting on Sept. 11, was absent from this week's meeting. Bunek called the new ordinance "over the top," and said it would create a "Tobacco Gestapo" in the county government. Bunek said the new rules would impose "an unreasonable hardship on county employees who do smoke." Bunek also asserted that current rules prohibiting anyone from smoking within 50 feet of the county courthouse in Leland were unenforceable, and that the new rules would be even more unenforceable. During a public comment opportunity at this week's meeting, the county board heard from Lisa Danto of Suttons Bay, a registered nurse who heads up the county's Tobacco Task Force and facilitates "smoking cessation" classes throughout the region. Danto praised the board for recommending adoption of the ordinance and urged commissioners to vote yes on enacting the new rules. The new ordinance will take effect as soon as its full text is published as a legal advertisement in a upcoming edition of the Enterprise. In other business at its regular monthly meeting, the Leelanau County Board of Commissioners: • Approved a Memorandum of Agreement with Grand Traverse County to implement a joint "system of care" for children with serious emotional disturbances and their families. The budget-neutral item was placed on the agenda at the request of Bunek, backed by family court judge Joseph E. Deegan and administrator Betsy Fisher. • Agreed to meet with a county attorney to discuss Open Meetings Act issues, tentatively on Sept. 28. The board has been asked by Enterprise publisher Alan Campbell to provide minutes of board meetings that Campbell asserts were improperly closed to the public. As part of its consent agenda, the board also: • Renewed a Cooperative Reimbursement Program contract of $77,941 with the state Department of Human Services for child support and other programs at the request of county prosecutor Joseph Hubbell. • Renewed a $20,000 contract with the Women's Resource Center of the Grand Traverse Area to provide victim's assistance services, also at the request of the prosecutor's office. • Approved a $39,387 purchase of various items of computer equipment on the recommendation of county information technology coordinator Ron Plamondon. • Approved a $4,819 contract with a California firm, ESRI, to maintain special mapping hardware and software used for planning and emergency services, also on Plamondon's recommendation. • Resubmitted a grant application to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for help in funding a "hazardous substances" program, on the recommendation of county Planning and Community Development department head Trudy Galla. • Conducted a mandatory review of a fee schedule associated with the Leelanau County Address Ordinance. The board accepted Galla's recommendation that fees remain unchanged in the coming year. • Renewed an $11,694 agreement with Netlink Business Solutions of Elmwood Township to maintain the county's photocopy machines on the recommendation of county administrator David Gill. Enditem