We caught up to Columbia Mayor Darwin Hindman to get his reaction to city employees violating the smoking ban
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KRCG's Amy Willenbrink finally caught up to Columbia Mayor Darwin Hindman to get his reaction to city employees violating the smoking ban.
What were your thoughts when you heard what happened?
“Well, I thought it was bad. The smoking ordinance applies to everybody including city employees. The city should be enforcing it absolutely and so when we discovered that was happening, it needed to be stopped," said Mayor Darwin Hindman.
And as far as he knows it has for now.
After showing Stephanie Browning, Director of the Boone County and Columbia Health Department, the video of her employee smoking right outside the city building she sent out a mass e-mail to her staff reminding them of the ordinance and said jobs could be in the line if they are caught again breaking a law that is broken everyday by others.
Is reminding them helping?
"There's no doubt about it that people still violate it," said Hindman. "It's a difficult thing to enforce but people should reply.”
And even with that being said, Hindman still admits it's very important if not the most important part of the ordinance. But he wouldn't change his mind when it comes to revising the 20-feet requirement of the ordinance.
But the Mayor's views about the ban are not shared by all on the council who passed it.
I took a walk with Councilmember Laura Nauser who has served a term that's encountered some of the most controversial topics.
"I was against it from the beginning and am still against the smoking ban," said Nauser.
But even though Nauser was outvoted, she still gave her opinions about the 20-feet ordinance.
"I questioned it at the beginning. I mean many parts of downtown overlap one another. You would have to smoke in the street to be able to smoke," said Nauser.
And that clearly doesn't happen.
"It passed over and was thought not to be enforced but still remains on the books," said Nauser.
It remains as a law, not a reminder.
What does it say about this law that people are smoking right behind you next to a door right now?
"It says that it’s pretty meaningless and we should go back and talk about it," said Nauser.
But that is not the case as far as the mayor goes when it comes to city employees.
What if it happens again?
"I do not get into personnel matters directly that's not my job. I'm not supposed to do that. But I can assure you that we don't want to have the reputation for allowing city employees to ignore this ordinance and trying to enforce it on other respects against other people. So, I'm sure disciplinary actions will be taken and very possibly, citations will be issued," said Hindman.
As we reported earlier, there have not been any citations written for smoking within 20 feet of an entrance.
