City Council Preview: Regulating Tobacco Smoke and Budget Review

The Gilroy city council has a few issues to tackle during tonight’s 6 p.m. meeting. One of them includes the review of a staff report detailing two proposed tobacco ordinances that would regulate smoking in city-owned recreational areas, like parks, and impose a tobacco retail license.

The issue of regulating tobacco smoke was first brought to the council in June of 2010, after community members asked the council to begin regulating the location of tobacco retailers, according to city documents. At that time, the city asked staff to review how other cities were approaching tobacco retail licensing and return with recommendations.

Then, in February, the city received a Santa Clara County Public Health Department (SCCPH) grant with the requirement that they develop an ordinance that would impose a tobacco license on retailers who sell tobacco products in any form. License holders would be charged a fee, with the generated revenue going toward services needed to implement the ordinance, like administration, enforcement and education, city documents state.

Gilroy's grant agreement was later amended in October of 2011, with the aid of extra funds, to include the development of an additional ordinance geared toward prohibiting smoking in all city-owned parks and trails.

The county was originally awarded close to 7 million dollars in two-year grant money in March of 2010 by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Communities Putting Prevention to Work program for the purpose of providing cities with resources to strengthen programs aimed toward tobacco prevention.

However, the received grant money doesn’t necessarily mean that an ordinance regulating tobacco smoke will be adopted in Gilroy.

“The scope of the grant is for the city to develop ordinances for consideration by the community and the city council. There is no requirement in the grant agreement that the city must adopt an ordinance,” city documents state.

The council will review the report during tonight’s meeting, and provide direction to staff for future work on the proposed ordinances. For detailed information on the tobacco ordinances, refer to the agenda packet. 

Other anticipated highlights include:

• The introduction of a proclamation naming March 12 as Girl Scouts Day in Gilroy. The proclamation was reportedly made to honor the 100th birthday of Girl Scouts of America. 
• The council will award certificates of appreciation to Carol Peters and Diana Young, who are outgoing members of the Arts and Culture Commission.
• Under unfinished business, the council will appoint one member to the Building Board of Appeals for an unexpired term ending in December of 2014. 
•  Under new business, the council will review the second quarter budget for fiscal year 2011-12. 

Not able to make tonight’s meeting? Don’t fret, Gilroy Patch will have coverage of Monday’s meeting available on Tuesday.

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