O’Fallon Officials Deny Petition to Repeal the Voter-Approved Smoking Ban

City officials said a referendum petition will not be able to repeal the citywide smoking ban passed by voters in the April 5 election.

The with 73 percent of the vote, banning smoking in most of the city’s bars, restaurants and public places. It is set to go into effect on June 16.

Last week, a group called Repeal the Ban Committee filed an affidavit with City Clerk Pamela Clements to begin a referendum petition to repeal the smoking ordinance.

The three petition committee members listed are Carrie Ellis, Roman N. Bettag and Marina Bishop.

On Wednesday, Clement notified Ellis by letter that the city charter only allows for referendum petition efforts in regard to ordinances enacted by the city council, not those passed by the vote of O’Fallon residents.

O’Fallon Patch was not able to reach the committee members for comment.

Jim Pepper, a Ward 2 councilman who has been since before its passing, previously told O’Fallon Patch he thinks the city ordinance is too restrictive and violates Missouri statutes.

As it stands, O’Fallon’s ordinance has few exemptions. The places where smoking is not regulated include:

• private residences
• private clubs that have no employees
• hotels and motels where no more than 20 percent of the rooms are designated as smoking
• some cigar bars and tobacco stores 

On Thursday, Pepper said he was disappointed with the city clerk and city attorney's interpretation of the charter regarding the referendum petitions. Pepper served on the charter committee, and he said the commissioners never anticipated something like this happening.

The Ward 2 councilman said he was offering his support to the Repeal the Ban Committee, but at this point, he’s not sure what else they can do.

“Now the only thing to do, is when this goes into effect, see if business owners will step up to the plate and make a point of what it’s done to their businesses,” he said. “Some businesses will improve, and other businesses, it’s going to hurt them and their employees.”

Pepper said he doesn’t think the residents who voted for the ban realized how far it reached beyond just restaurants and bars or the potential effects it could have on business.

“There’s not a whole heck of a lot we can do about it,” Pepper said. “We have to move on, and while I disagree, that’s my right to disagree.”