MORGANTOWN – The Monongalia County Board of Health on Thursday voted against initiating a process through which exceptions in the county’s indoor smoking ban could be made for cigar lounges.
The issue was first raised locally by Dave Biafora and Michael Audia, who attended the board’s Jan. 29 regular meeting to ask if the body would consider a variance to its indoor smoking prohibition for such uses.
Monongalia County Health Department Executive Director Anthony DeFelice said research on the issue since the January meeting has shown multiple health departments across the state either already have a cigar bar exemption mechanism in place or are in the process of creating one.
For example, media reports indicate the Brooke County Commission approved variances for cigar lounges at two Weirton businesses last July. The variances went to the commission with the recommendation of the county’s board of health, provided certain conditions tied to ventilation, age restrictions, food service and posted signage were met.
DeFelice suggested that if the MCBOH wanted to move forward, the variance application process implemented in Brooke County would be preferable to directly amending the county’s Clean Indoor Air Regulation to create exceptions.
“It’s a process. I think today’s discussion is if you want to proceed. If the answer is yes, then we need to construct a variance document, bring it to the board. If approved, then it has to go out to public comment for at least 30 days. After 30 days, it’s brought back to the board to approve any changes. Then, once that process is done, it goes to the county commission for them to approve,” he said.
Ultimately, the board said it wasn’t interested.
“It seems pretty cut and dry to me. I mean, we’re about protecting health, and I’m not seeing anything in here that protects the public’s health. So, to me, this issue is pretty settled. That boat has sailed,” Keith Zullig said. “In a state that has such low health metrics, why are we even considering something that is going to put the public’s health at risk? My vote is no.”
Sam Chico, who was among the board of health members who voted to ban smoking in all enclosed spaces in 2012, argued that despite his personal dislike of the habit, “it does occur, and it’s legal.”
“I do think that economics is a component of public health, and that smoking is a legal activity, and there are people who do enjoy this thing,” he said, adding, “I think that we should go forward with this in a way that we can monitor and control it, rather than pass the economic opportunity.”
The county’s Clean Indoor Air Regulation was unanimously passed by the board of health on Jan. 9, 2012, some four years after the idea was first proposed. The smoking ban took effect March 9 of that year, concluding one of the more publicly debated initiatives ever taken up by the board.
Donna Tennant was serving as the board’s chair at the time.
Currently the board’s vice-chair, Tennant said she didn’t want to rehash the issue.
“Having been one of the members of this board who worked very hard on the no-smoking ordinance and that whole big issue several years ago, I really don’t want to open us up to any kind of process like what that was,” she said. “You just have to look at both, economics and health, and, you know, we are public health. So, I think we should just vote to not proceed with it.”
While Greg Selasky said people are ultimately free to make the choices that impact their health, he worried both about the optics of the board easing its no indoor smoking position as well as possibly cracking the door for future requests.
“Where do we go from here as the next step? If we start with a cigar bar, then what’s going to be added next – cigarette bar, marijuana bar, vaping bar? You know what I mean, because we’re opening the door for that kind of stuff,” he said.
The board voted 3-0-1 against initiating a cigar lounge variance or exemption process. Zullig, Tennant and Selasky voted in the majority. Chico abstained from voting. Board Chair Toni DiChiacchio noted the chair’s vote is only necessary to break a tie.
