HANCOCK COUNTY — The head of the county’s health department says she’s opposed to a potential amendment to the county’s smoke-free ordinance, saying the measure would weaken the current law.
The Hancock County Commissioners may consider allowing shops that primarily sell tobacco products to have separate areas for smoking. The amendment hasn’t been drafted yet, but it’s already created buzz.
At a recent commissioner meeting, Dr. Sandra Aspy, health officer for the Hancock County Health Department, said on behalf of the Hancock County Board of Health that they want the ordinance to stay the same. The ordinance bans smoking in all workplaces, but it doesn’t prohibit smoking in private residences, motor vehicles or hotels and motels that still permit smoking in certain rooms.
The county attorney, Scott Benkie, is working on the proposed amendment’s language, said commissioner Marc Huber. He said the amendment would strictly apply to businesses that primarily sell tobacco, not gas stations, convenience stores or supermarkets that also sell tobacco.
“We’re trying to keep it narrow,” Huber said. “We’re not wanting to open it back up the restaurants.”
Earlier this month, the owner of a cigar shop in downtown Fortville, Larry Harnish, told the Daily Reporter that he asked county officials to look into the possible exemption. He wants to open a smoking lounge at his business, Maduro on Main. It would allow only cigars — no other tobacco products — and would have a separate ventilation system that would frequently exchange air to prevent Harnish’s fellow retail tenants in the building from coming into contact with any secondhand smoke, he said.
Huber said he’s of the opinion that people who don’t smoke won’t go inside a tobacco or cigar shop.
“We understand it’s not the best for everybody. We understand there’s issues,” Huber said. “But if you don’t smoke and you have asthma, you probably don’t go into that place for that reason.”
Aspy told the Daily Reporter that allowing certain businesses to allow smoking “opens up areas for secondhand exposure” to the neighboring businesses. She also said it would weaken the existing ordinance. She said if the commissioners allow tobacco businesses to have smoking areas, she would propose the county charge permit fees like they do for tattoo parlors or other food and drink establishments.
“I don’t think it’s a problem to have strict guidelines regarding smoking,” Aspy said, “because it’s basically to protect employees from secondhand smoke exposure.”
Havana Cigar and Cocktail Lounge is set to open at The Yard at Fishers District, a dining district planned to launch this fall near Ikea in Fishers. The cigar and whiskey public house will have a “state of the art” ventilation system, the project developer, Thompson Thrift, told media outlets in early 2018.
Hamilton County doesn’t have a countywide smoking ban, and neither does Fishers, according to the Indiana State Department of Health’s website. Fishers falls under the guidelines of the Indiana Smoke Free Air Law, which allows smoking in bars and taverns, tobacco retail shops, cigar bars, hookah bars, gaming facilities, horse tracks and membership clubs, such as Veterans of Foreign Wars posts.
Huber, who wasn’t a commissioner when Hancock County’s ordinance was signed in 2009, said he isn’t in favor of the smoke-free ordinance, saying he doesn’t like “rights being taken away.” Huber said the restrictions inhibit shop owners, like Harnish, from growing their businesses.
“It’s probably better for the community; I don’t disagree with that. And it probably has made everybody healthier; I don’t disagree with that,” Huber said. “It’s just a matter of, there are still some people who enjoy smoking a cigar or whatever, and why should they not have the same rights as everybody else, as long as it’s not affecting anybody.”
Hancock County’s smoking rate has declined to 16 percent from 22 percent since 2011, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Huber said he’s not advocating for letting people smoke wherever they want; he and the other two county commissioners want to start a a dialogue on whether the ordinance should have additional exemptions. He said they plan to soon have a public discussion on the amendment once it’s introduced.
