State and Local Government

State and Local Government Paper

POL/215

University of Phoenix

January 15, 2006

Introduction

The city of Fountain, Colorado is a full service municipality. Within the city, several actively responsive city boards see to the needs of the community and plan for the city’s future growth. One such board is the City Council, which holds regularly scheduled meetings on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month. Each meeting follows the same basic structure and allows for input from local citizens. During the last several council meetings, one of the focal issues has been the possibility of reducing the fifteen-foot non-smoking radius in entryways. The Colorado Clean Indoor Act has a clause that states “smoking is not allowed within 15 feet of an establishment or business main entryway unless defined differently by a local law” (Smoke Free Colorado, 2006). During the December 19, 2006 Fountain City Council meeting, this was a focal topic for the council meeting.

Positions Taken

As with most issues, there were citizens and council members on each opposing side of the issue. The majority of the citizens expressed a need to reduce the non-smoking radius. The reasons behind this need were focused on keeping patrons from standing in parking lots to smoke. Several citizens pointed out the fact that many businesses are currently violating the current ordinances in order to keep patrons. Council member Oneyear did not feel that there was any need to reduce the non-smoking radius for any businesses within Fountain city limits. However, the majority of council members agreed with the strong positions provided by citizens and storeowners. Therefore, Mayor Howells made a motion to reduce the non-smoking radius. Another member of the council seconded this motion. Therefore, a new ordinance is going to be read at the next council meeting to reduce the radius from fifteen feet to five feet.

Prior Action

The issue of the smoking radius has been addressed at several previous meetings since July 1, 2005, when the Colorado Clean Indoor Act took effect (Smoke Free Colorado, 2006). However, due to the lengthy nature of discussing the issue, many citizens were unable to present their positions during the other meetings. Several of those citizens were present at this meeting and voiced their opinions in regards to nonsmoking radius.

Interest Groups

The main opinions on this issue came from individual storeowners along Highway 85/87 within Fountain city limits. The focus of these groups was that any customer visiting the shops in the area would have to stand in the middle of the parking lots in order to smoke.