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Mount Dora may try to put out city workers' cigarettes

MOUNT DORA - City Council members on Tuesday plan to discuss an anti-smoking proposal that would prohibit city workers from lighting up on or around a city-owned property. It also would prevent employees from smoking inside city-owned vehicles. What sparked the proposal? Mayor Melissa DeMarco said she pitched the idea after she saw two people -- who were not Mount Dora employees -- sitting on a bench smoking outside the W.T. Bland Public Library last month. DeMarco then saw a mother walking into the library while holding two toddlers and waving off the secondhand cigarette smoke. "I thought, 'Wow, that's really awful. She shouldn't have to expose her children to that,' " DeMarco said. "She acted very distressed by it." DeMarco, by the way, calls herself an "occasional" smoker. How would the ban work? The proposal aims to prevent city employees from smoking near the entrances and in the parking lots outside City Hall and other city buildings where the public would be forced to breathe secondhand smoke, DeMarco said. The ban also would include using smokeless tobacco products such as chewing tobacco. City Council members at Tuesday's meeting may place specific restrictions on the policy, such as banning employees from smoking within so many feet of an entrance to a city-owned building. What are the current restrictions? Mount Dora, per Florida law, prohibits smoking in all city buildings. But the city does provide outside break areas designated for smoking. Under the proposal, those break areas could be eliminated. Also, city police officers and firefighters are currently prohibited from smoking while on duty. Will this mean I can't light up when I visit a Mount Dora park, cemetery or other outdoor place? The policy applies to employees and would not prohibit the public from smoking on city property. Mount Dora has no rule preventing the public from smoking at its parks or other outdoor city-owned areas. However, the City Council on Tuesday may discuss enacting an ordinance banning public smoking at all city facilities. How might the ban benefit the city? Ken Bloom, Mount Dora's human resources director, said the proposed anti-smoking policy may help control the city's health insurance premiums "in the long haul." "It won't have an instantaneous impact, but it's going to have a long-term impact on claims-loss ratios in a positive way," he said. Because smoking is linked to various diseases, city employees who quit or reduce their smoking because of the new policy may end up filing fewer health-insurance claims. Bloom cited a report released this year by The Florida Institute for Smoking Cessation that said smoking costs Florida's economy More than $20 billion a year, or nearly $7,000 per smoker. The report, based on a study by the Washington Economics Group, estimated that each dollar spent on smoking-cessation programs would result in economic gains of $1.90 to $5.75 for employers, insurers and government. What about city employees who are hooked on nicotine and need to take a puff? They can walk off city property to smoke. Even so, Mount Dora plans to offer its employees smoke-cessation programs to help them quit, Bloom said. The city offers a variety of nutrition and wellness classes and seminars for employees. If approved, when would the ban likely go into effect? Nov. 1. Martin E. Comas can be reached at mcomas@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5927.