JEFF GEARINO Southwest Wyoming bureau | Posted: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 12:00 am
GREEN RIVER - Somebody, it seems, didn't like the smoking ban compromise after all.
Smokers in mostly smoke-free Green River hardly had time to come in out of the cold and back into the bars before a petition was submitted to city officials seeking to overturn the town's new smoking ordinance.
But just who exactly submitted the petition remains a mystery, city officials and bar owners said Monday.
"It certainly wasn't us," said Ponderosa Bar owner Bobby Easton, who is also president of the Green River Liquor Dealers Association.
"We're (OK) with the compromise," Easton said. "Our petition that we took around was not turned in by the liquor dealers. Somebody did something … but it was not the liquor dealers at all."
Council members approved a revised smoking ordinance last month exempting bars, taverns and private clubs after reaching a compromise of sorts with bar owners.
The new law made Green River the fifth city in Wyoming to ban smoking in buildings and facilities used by the public.
The council had originally considered exempting bars and taverns from the new law, but removed the proposed exemption just before the final vote on the ordinance Dec. 4. But just a week after the new law went into effect, council members again reversed course and amended the ordinance to exempt bars, taverns, lounges and private clubs on Dec. 18.
The move came after the liquor dealers association had gathered more than 600 signatures on a petition seeking to reinstate the exemption and just before the deadline for the petition's submission. Council members said they were concerned the petition drive could lead to the repeal of the entire smoking ordinance.
City Administrator Barry Cook said an envelope containing the latest petition was left at City Hall last week by an unnamed citizen or group of citizens.
He said the city staff is reviewing the petition to determine if it is indeed legitimate, and whether the document has enough valid signatures to force reconsideration of the ordinance.
"It's under review by legal counsel as to its validity and also by our city clerk as to the signatures," he said.
Cook said the petition contained about 660 signatures.
If the petition is valid and meets the signature requirements of at least 10 percent of the city's registered voters, or about 485 signatures, Cook said the council will then have two options: Repeal the whole ordinance or place the question on a municipal ballot.
"If the petition is a valid petition, then the council will have to suspend the ordinance … and then make the decision whether to repeal the entire ordinance or take it to a vote of the people," he said. "They're locked in."
Cook said he hopes to have a legal opinion by the end of the week.
Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.