After watching battles over smoking bans in Salina and Wichita, Dodge City Fire Chief Dan Williamson was expecting some resistance from local businesses when Dodge adopted its ban last fall.
But so far, he's been pleasantly surprised.
"In reality, business compliance and business acceptance have been very favorable," Williamson told the Globe on Tuesday. "We have appreciated the businesses that have taken the steps to comply and make it an easy transition."
By April 1, Dodge City businesses must either ban smoking on their premises or finish building special smoking rooms to meet the city's standards. Those rooms must be enclosed on all sides by solid, impermeable walls or floor-to-ceiling windows, and they must have self-closing doors.
The rooms are required to maintain a negative air pressure — that is, more air is exhausted from the area than is directly supplied by heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. In addition, the rooms must include a ventilation system that exhausts air from the room directly to the outside.
Smoking will not be allowed in those rooms until the business passes a city inspection, pays a $100 permit fee and registers as a smoking zone. The business must renew the permit each year for a $25 fee.
Businesses that fail to comply with the city's regulations by the deadline may be fined and barred from allowing smoking until they build the special rooms and install the required ventilation system — if that's what they decide to do.
Private clubs that are open to members only are exempt from the ban, but they are still required to post "Smoking permitted" signs on the premises.
Williamson said that four businesses — Southwest Distributing, the local Veterans of Foreign Wars club, the Bel-Air Motel and Latino's Disco — have sought permission to create smoking rooms so far. Of those four, Southwest Distributing and the VFW have finished their rooms and passed a city inspection.
The smoking ban does not apply to motels, including the Bel-Air, except in their lobbies and other public areas. Consequently, the city refunded the Bel-Air's $100 registration fee.
Williamson said that Latino's Disco is still working on its smoking room and may not make the deadline for compliance. If that's the case, he said, the bar will have to go smoke-free starting April 1 — but its management can continue work on the smoking room after the deadline passes.
An attempt to reach Latino's management for comment Tuesday evening was unsuccessful.
Other businesses, faced with the potential cost of building special smoking rooms, have decided to ban smoking on their premises.
Central Station Bar and Grill co-owner Inga Vazquez said that the restaurant's management considered building a smoking room but decided it wasn't feasible.
"Financially, we're just not able to do anything to make those adjustments," she said. "So we decided we're just going to start early, and we've already gone non-smoking."
Vazquez said patrons had mixed reactions to the restaurant's decision to prohibit smoking on the premises as of March 1. Some patrons left the restaurant, she said, while others applauded the decision.
Punishing violations
The city has not begun enforcing its smoking ban yet, but that will change starting April 1.
Anyone who violates the ban, whether a business owner, manager or patron, may be charged with a misdemeanor. The penalty for violations is a $50 fine for individuals and a $100 fine for businesses on the first offense, but that amount will rise to $200 for a second offense within a year.
Business owners who violate the ban could also have their permit suspended or revoked.
The city will address any failures to post required "No smoking" or "Smoking permitted" signs through annual business inspections.
Williamson said so far, the smoking ban has not generated many complaints from either business owners or the general public.
"The majority of the businesses have not had a complaint," he said. "It hasn't been detrimental to their business. And I think outside of that, the general public finds it refreshing to go into a smoke-free restaurant and have a meal."
Reach Eric Swanson at (620) 408-9917 or e-mail him at eric.swanson@dodgeglobe.com.
DODGE CITY —
