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April 8, 2002Workers oppose a ban on smoking- TC Health Department staffers say ban may discourage people from visiting county officesBy BILL O'BRIENRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - A proposal to create a smoke-free campus at the Grand Traverse County Health Department has encountered some unexpected opposition - other county health workers. The county's Tobacco Task Force has made a request to the county board's Human Services Committee to ban smoking throughout the grounds of the Health Department offices along Garfield Road. The county last summer instituted a similar ban throughout the Civic Center, both indoors and out. Task Force coordinator Bonnie Willings said a smoking ban at the Health Department would cut tobacco use by both clients and employees of the department, and reduce the number of cigarette butts littered around the building. She also told commissioners it would improve the health department's "public image" by eliminating the people who congregate outside of the building entrances to smoke. At first the board committee endorsed the proposal, but decided to get more input from other staff members before taking the request to the full board. More than a dozen Health Department staffers signed a letter opposing the smoking ban, saying it could discourage people from visiting county health offices. "We feel if our building is a 'no smoking' campus, it will discourage our clients from coming to participate in the programs they need," the employee letter said. "We would like to see a nice designated smoking area, preferably away from our front doors, with some nice visible signs." County health officer Fred Keeslar said he has not taken a position on the proposed smoking ban. But he said it does bother him when people have to walk through a group of smokers to enter the Health Department building. "I don't like the idea of clients having to walk through second-hand smoke when they're coming in here for health services," Keeslar said. "But if they want to create a designated smoking area that's out of the way, I guess I don't have a problem with that." The Health Department director also said he would prefer the smoking issue be addressed in a voluntary manner by the smokers instead of the county extending its smoking bans. "It would seem that courtesy would be better than rules," Keeslar said. The board's Human Services Committee will take up the issue again at its May 1 meeting. Bill O'Brien is the reporter for Grand Traverse County. He can be reached at (231) 933-1477 or bobrien@record-eagle.com
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