AN ORDINANCE CONCERNING SMOKING IN PUBLIC PLACES AND PLACES OF EMPLOYMENT
WHEREAS, numerous studies have found that tobacco smoke is a major
contributor to indoor pollution, and that breathing secondhand smoke is a cause of
disease, including lung cancer in nonsmokers;
and
WHEREAS, people at special risk to secondhand smoke include children, the
elderly, individuals with cardiovascular disease or impaired respiratory function, including
asthmatics, and those with obstructive airway disease; and
WHEREAS, health hazards induced by breathing secondhand smoke including
lung cancer, heart disease, respiratory infection, decreased respiratory function, and
bronchospasm; and
WHEREAS, the Town of Plainfield (hereinafter “Town”) finds and declares that
the purposes of this ordinance are: 1) to protect the public health and welfare by
prohibiting smoking in public places, and places of employment; and 2) to guarantee the
right of nonsmokers to breathe smokefree
air, and to recognize that the need to breathe
smokefree
air shall have priority over the desire to smoke.
Section 1. Definitions.
a.
"Bar" means any establishment used primarily for the sale of alcoholic
beverages for consumption by guests on the premises and in which the
sale of food is merely incidental to the sale of alcoholic beverages,
including but not limited to taverns, nightclubs, and cocktail lounges.
b.
"Person" means any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company or organization of any kind.
c.
1.
(i)
not be operated for pecuniary gain; and
(ii)
a.
formed as a lodge, local chapter, or corresponding unit of a
fraternal order recognized on a national basis; or
b.
comprised of persons who have served in the armed forces of
the United States; or
c.
formed as a recognized, exclusive association of persons
organized for a joint or common purpose for which
application for membership, the payment of dues, and selfgovernance
by the membership are distinguishing
characteristics; and
2.
where entry into and use of the facility is restricted to members and guests
of members.
d.
"Restaurant" means any establishment used as or held out to the public
as having food available for payment to be consumed on the premises,
including coffee shops, cafeterias, cafes, luncheonettes sandwich stands
and soda fountains. The term "restaurant" shall include a bar area within
the restaurant.
e.
“Theater” means any enclosed facility, open to the public, which is primarily used
for or designed for the purpose of exhibiting any motion picture, stage drama,
musical recital, dance, lecture or other similar performance.
f.
"Smoke" or "smoking" means the act of lighting, carrying, inhaling from, or
leaving a lighted or smoldering cigar, cigarette, or pipe of any kind.
g.
"Public place" means any enclosed area used by the general public,
including, but not limited to, retail stores and financial institutions,
department stores, banks, laundromats and beauty and barber shops,
retail food production and marketing establishments, retail service
establishments, and other commercial establishments, regardless of
whether a fee is charged for admission to the place.
h.
"Enclosed Area" means all space between a floor and ceiling that is
enclosed on all sides by solid walls or windows (exclusive of doorways),
which extend from the floor to the ceiling.
i.
"Place of Employment" means any enclosed area under the control of a public or
private employer which employees normally frequent during the course of
employment, including but not limited to, work areas, private offices, employee
lounges and restrooms, conference and class rooms, employee cafeterias and
hallways.
j.
"Retail Tobacco Store" means retail store utilized primarily for the sale of tobacco
products and accessories and in which the sale of other products is merely
incidental. The term does not include retail stores where food or beverages are
sold for consumption on the premises or where an area has been setaside
on the
premises for customers to consume food or beverages.
k.
"Health Care Facility" means an office or institution providing care or treatment of
diseases, whether physical, mental, or emotional, or other medical, physiological,
or psychological conditions, including but not limited to, hospitals, rehabilitation
hospitals or other clinics, including weight control clinics, nursing homes, homes
for the aging or chronically ill.
Section 2. Application of Chapter to Townowned
All enclosed facilities, including buildings and vehicles owned, leased, or operated by the
Town of Plainfield, shall be subject to the provisions of this Chapter.
Section 3. Smoking prohibited in public places.
a.
Aquariums, galleries, libraries, and museums.
b.
Areas available to and customarily used by the general public in
businesses and nonprofit entities patronized by the public, including but
not limited to, professional offices, banks, laundromats, hotels, and
motels.
c.
Bars.
d.
Bingo facilities.
e.
Convention facilities.
f.
Elevators.
g.
Facilities primarily used for exhibiting a motion picture, stage, drama,
lecture, musical recital, or other similar performance.
h.
Health care facilities.
i.
Licensed childcare and adult day care facilities.
j.
Lobbies, hallways, and other common areas in apartment buildings,
condominiums, trailer parks, retirement facilities, nursing homes, and
other multipleunit
residential facilities.
k.
Polling places.
l.
Private Club during any period of time that the public is invited and present
on the premises.
m.
Public transportation facilities, including buses and taxicabs, under the
authority of the Town of Plainfield and ticket, boarding, and waiting areas
of public transit depots.
n.
Restaurants.
o.
Restrooms, lobbies, reception areas, hallways, and other commonuse
areas.
p.
Retail stores.
q.
Rooms, chambers, places of meeting or public assembly, including school
buildings, under the control of an agency, board, commission, committee or
council of the Town or a political subdivision of the State when a public
meeting is in progress, to the extent the place is subject to the jurisdiction of
the Town.
r.
Schools
s.
Service lines
t.
Shopping malls
u.
Sports arenas, including enclosed place in outdoor arenas.
Section 4. Prohibition of Smoking in Places of Employment.
Smoking shall be prohibited in all enclosed areas within places of employment. This
includes, but is not limited to, common work areas, auditoriums, classrooms, conference
and meeting rooms, private offices, elevators, hallways, medical facilities, cafeterias,
employee lounges, stairs, restrooms, vehicles, and all other enclosed facilities.
Section 5. Reasonable Distance
Smoking shall be prohibited within a reasonable distance from an enclosed area where
smoking is prohibited by this Chapter, so as to insure tobacco smoke does not enter into
establishments designated as smokefree
under this Chapter through entrances, windows,
ventilation intakes or other means.
Section 6. Where Smoking is Not Regulated.
a.
Private residences, except when used as a licensed childcare, adult day
care, or health care facility.
b.
Hotel and motel rooms that are rented to guests and are designated as
smoking rooms; provided however, that not more than twenty five (25%) of
rooms rented to guests in a hotel or motel may be so designated. The
status of rooms as smoking or nonsmoking may not be changed, except to
add additional nonsmoking rooms.
c.
Retail tobacco stores; provided that smoke from these places does not
infiltrate into areas where smoking is prohibited under the provisions of
this Ordinance.
d.
Private and semiprivate
rooms in nursing homes and longterm
care
facilities that are occupied by one or more persons, all of whom are
smokers and have requested in writing to be placed in a room where
smoking is permitted; provided that smoke from these places does not
infiltrate into areas where smoking is prohibited under the provisions of
this Ordinance.
e.
Outdoor areas of places of employment.
f.
Private Club as defined herein.
Section 7. Declaration of Establishment as Nonsmoking.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Chapter, an owner, operator, manager, or other
person in control of an establishment, facility, or outdoor area may declare that entire
establishment, facility, outdoor area or parking lot as a nonsmoking place. Smoking shall
be prohibited in any place in which a sign conforming to the requirements of Section 8 is
posted.
Section 8. Posting of Signs.
Every public place and place of employment where smoking is prohibited by this
Ordinance shall have posted at every entrance a conspicuous sign clearly stating that
smoking is prohibited.
Section 9. Enforcement.
a.
This Chapter shall be enforced by the Plainfield Metropolitan Police
Department and the Plainfield Community Service Officers.
b.
Any citizen who desires to register a complaint under this Chapter may
initiate enforcement with the Plainfield Metropolitan Police Department or the Plainfield
Community Service Officers.
c.
The Fire Department, Building Inspector, or their designees may, while an
establishment is undergoing otherwise mandated inspections, inspect for
compliance with this Ordinance.
d.
An owner, manager, operator, or employee of an establishment regulated by
this Ordinance shall inform persons violating this Ordinance of the appropriate
provisions thereof.
Section 10. Violations and Penalties.
a.
A person who smokes in an area where smoking is prohibited by the
provisions of this Ordinance shall be guilty of an infraction, punishable by a fine not
exceeding fifty dollars ($50).
b.
1.
A fine not exceeding One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) for a first
violation.
2.
A fine not exceeding Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) for a second
violation within one (1) year.
3.
A fine not exceeding Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) for each
additional violation within one (1) year.
c.
Each day on which a violation of this Ordinance occurs shall be considered
a separate and distinct violation.
Section 11. Nonretaliation.
No person or employers shall discharge, refuse to hire or in any manner retaliate against
any employee, applicant for employment, or customer because such employee, applicant,
or customer exercises any right to a smokefree
environment afforded by this Ordinance.
Section 12. Other applicable laws.
This Ordinance shall not be interpreted to permit smoking where it is otherwise restricted
by other applicable laws or to supersede any local laws which are more restrictive.
Section 13. Chapter to be broadly interpreted.
This Ordinance shall be construed broadly to effectuate the purposes described in the
preamble of this ordinance.
Section 14. Severability.
If any section or sentence or provision of this Ordinance, or the application thereof to any
person or circumstances shall be declared unconstitutional or invalid, such invalidity shall
not affect any of the other sections, sentences, provisions or application of this ordinance
which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end, the
provisions of this ordinance are declared to be severable.
Section 15. Effective Date.
This Ordinance shall be effective at 7:00 A.M., January 1, 2007.
ADOPTED by the Town Council of the Town of Plainfield, Indiana, this _____ day of
__________________, 2006.
TOWN COUNCIL, TOWN OF PLAINFIELD
HENDRICKS COUNTY, INDIANA:
Robin G. Brandgard
Kent McPhail
Bill Kirchoff
Daniel W. Fivecoat
Edmund L. Gaddie Jr.
ATTESTED BY:
Wesley R. Bennett, Clerk-Treasurer of
the Town of Plainfield, Indiana
Town of Plainfield