IF City Council Tweaks Bar Smoking Ban

The Idaho Falls City Council on Tuesday heard some changes to a proposed city-wide ban on smoking in Idaho Falls bars.

“We are within our scope of being city leaders to look at the health, the safety and the welfare of individuals,” said city councilwoman Sharon Parry.

For Parry, a smoking ban is an issue of safety.

“That not so much goes to certainly the patrons, but also the employees,” she said. “That’s who we’re hearing from.

Parry said bar employees are tired of second hand smoke. But many council members, she said, are on the fence when it comes to a total bar-smoking ban.

“I’m usually not one to split hairs, at all, but on this ordinance though, it is a very debatable issue,” she said.

Bar owners have already come forward with amendments, and that’s what was discussed on Tuesday. The ban, said Parry, has been whittled down extensively from it’s most recent version out in March.

The newest version would affect all bars equally, so no one could have a leg-up on the competition by privately allowing smokers.

“Some bar owners would like us to what they call level the playing field,” said Parry. “So that it would be the same in all bars.”

Parry said it boils down to one thing.

“Should all employees in this city be able to have a safe and healthy workplace, free of tobacco smoke?” she said. “I’s a health issue, we’re having to weigh that very weighty matter.”

A vote on the new draft is expected on Thursday.

Currently, Boise and Moscow are the only cities in Idaho with this type of smoking ban in place.