Sunday's Internet Edition, July 20, 2008.
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News editor - A petition to bring the non-smoking ordinance to a vote before Covites was denied on Wednesday morning.
Diane Steele, along with four other committee members, filed the formal petition with the City of Copperas Cove to stop the ordinance from going into effect and allow voters of Cove to decide if they want a non-smoking ordinance.
City Secretary Pamela Russell stated that the petition was deemed invalid because the signatures on the petition did not have a date. The requirement for the inclusion of dates is from the Texas Charter Code of Petition Applications and was not in the City Charter.
The state charter calls for the signers printed name, date of birth, voter registration number, residence address, and date of signing.
In the petition turned in by Steele, all but the date was listed.
The state charter calling for dates on submitted petitions was effective since 1997.
“As far as I can remember, there has not been a petition that has been validated and presented to council,” Russell said. “There have been petitions filed from Steele to recall council members, but to my knowledge there have been no petitions viable.”
Russell has been with the city for 7 years.
City Council passed the no-smoking ordinance 5-2, on May 18, and it went into effect on July 1.
Steele had remained unsure if she would go out and try to get the signatures throughout the week, but decided Wednesday evening that she would do whatever it took to try and get the signatures.
“It’s not over yet,” Steele said. “By getting the word out, people can call me or come by my house and sign the petition. This time though, we are going to have everything on there.”
“If the voters want the right to choose if they want this ordinance or not, then they will come by and sign.”
Since the ordinance has gone into effect, there have been mixed results at area restaurants.
“Sales are much lower than we had expected,” Michael Grant, owner of Grants Bar and Grill said. “We had a group of 14 people get up and leave when they found out they couldn’t smoke in the building,”
Grant, who had started a Karaoke night on Tuesdays and Fridays as a way to offset the loss of revenue, said that even that has dipped low in sales and attendance.
“When we first started the Karaoke night, we slowly started building up more and more so that before the ordinance passed, I didn’t think we would have enough room,” Grant said. “Now I think we have too much room. Its like we are starting all over.”
Grant said he thinks the reaction would be different if Lampasas and Killeen was also smoke free.
“They have options to the left and right of them,” Grant said. “If they don’t like it, they will just go somewhere else.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Applebee’s Neighborhood Bar and Grill has not seen a drop in sales with the ordinance in effect.
“We trust that the councilmembers have done the right thing for the community,” General Manager Bert Smith said. “We have had minimal complaints and a lot more compliments.”
Smith said that business has remained the same regardless of a non-smoking ordinance and have had no problems with customers who do smoke.
“I have not personally had a customer walk out because they couldn’t smoke inside,” Smith said. “Most people have welcomed it with open arms and are just fine with it.”
Steele said that her goal in forming the petition was to allow the public to have their voices heard.
“Let us make that decision on whether Cove is a smoke-free environment.” Steele said.
In a statement by Mayor Bradi Diaz before the ordinance passed, she told council members and citizens that she had hoped that council could have compromised on how the wording would be in the smoking ordinance.
“I want to say that I am not opposed to a smoking ordinance, but opposed to a non-smoking ordinance,” Diaz said, “I had asked the committee to consider a way to amend the ordinance that would allow each business, mostly the restaurants, to provide separate areas with proper ventilation systems or even enclosed areas for patrons to smoke. That, however, did not happen.”
Steele said that she was upset with the councils’ decision to pass the ordinance even after a plea from the mayor to compromise on the issue.
In order to have a valid petition, Steele had to form a committee of five registered voters. They then had to file with the city secretary of their intentions to file a petition. The petition then had to be approved by the city secretary.
Before the ordinance had been passed, council had been presented with an invalid petition containing 1,100 signatures from people in the area not wanting the ordinance, 311 of them were registered voters.
Of those signatures, 791 resided in Coryell County, and 232 did not. Only 33 signatures were placed more than once.
Once the formal petition was filed, Steel had 45 days to get the needed signatures.
“The formal petition was filed on June 11 and brought in on June 28,” City Secretary Pamela Russell said. “They still had 18 days to collect signatures.”
Now that the petition has been denied, the committee will have ten days to correct the petition.
“Unfortunately they can’t have the old documents back,” Russell said. “They will have to take that petition back out to get 300 new signatures.”
Finding out about the need for dates next to the signatures was not discovered until Russell, along with City Attorney Jim Thompson sought co council for the Civil Service petition that had been turned in and denied last week.
“They had enough signatures and all of the correct information except the dates,” Russell said. “We had given them a sample petition to look at, but it did have some information that wasn’t needed.”
James Gray of the American Cancer Society said that even if the petition allows the ordinance to go to a vote, it will more than likely approve the ordinance just like other neighboring communities.
“The city gives its citizens the authority to send these issues to a vote,” Gray said. “Precedent shows that when these ordinances are sent to a vote, voters uphold the ordinance.”
Gray said that in 2002 Florida had a similar non-smoking ordinance on the ballot during their general election. The ordinance was passed by 95 percent of the votes.
“More people voted to get the ordinance than vote for Jeb Bush,” Gray said. “The same happened in Odessa. The people took it to a vote, and 64 percent decided they wanted the non-smoking ordinance.”
Gray said that more and more states are becoming non-smoking.
“There are now seven states that are non-smoking statewide,” Gray said.
Those who are interested in signing the petition can call Diane Steele at 547-5433.