toledoblade.com --

Employees and customers are breathing much easier during dinner, drinks, and dancing at establishments statewide.

Yet efforts to enforce Ohio's smoking ban for the past year have come at a cost for local health departments doing inspections.

As the first-year anniversary of smoking ban enforcement approaches this week, the state has collected a total of $30,000 for all local health departments, which receive 90 percent of the fines they issue to fund compliance efforts.

But that is $10,000 less than the amount the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department alone has spent on overtime, mileage, and other expenses associated with enforcing the smoking ban. The local health department has investigated about 1,300 alleged violations of the state's smoking ban - and has received just $630 from fines so far.

Still, health department officials have no plans to turn enforcement over to the state, as other local departments that were overwhelmed have, said Alan Ruffell, the department's director of environmental health.

"We're going to continue," Mr. Ruffell said. "We kind of started this no-smoking trend before the state got on board, so we're committed to it."

Said Dr. David Grossman, Toledo-Lucas County health commissioner: "We're going to continue to do it and enforce it."

A year into enforcement of Ohio's smoking ban, essentially an unfunded mandate, compliance has proved to be a costly venture, although it has not diverted funds or time from other duties, some local health departments say. The financially troubled Williams County Health Department and a dozen other local entities statewide, however, have turned over inspection and violation duties to the Ohio Department of Health.

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Ultimately, fines from violating Ohio's smoking ban were expected to support each local health department's enforcement activities. Proceeds from fines aren't likely to ever keep the program going at the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, Mr. Ruffell said.

State and local health departments have received 29,714 complaints about violations of Ohio's smoking ban, including many duplicates, according to statistics compiled last week by the state. Enforcement of the smoking ban began May 3, 2007.

Those complaints have resulted in 2,041 warnings, as well as 644 fines ranging from $100 to $2,500, the maximum amount for establishments, according to the state health department.

The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department has by far fielded the highest number of smoking complaints in northwest Ohio, and inspectors have issued about 50 fines ranging from $100 to $2,500. It also has the third-highest number of complaints statewide, although some cities - such as Cleveland - are not merged with their county counterparts.

Many establishments in Toledo and Lucas County are appealing their warning letters or fines, with Platinum Showgirls in Toledo winning the first fine battle. Outcomes for eight other establishments are expected soon, and more hearings are scheduled for May.

Once establishments have exhausted the local appeals process, they can take their arguments to Franklin County Common Pleas Court, where the state health department and attorney general take over enforcement. If violations are upheld, that court can order establishments to pay fines, said Lance Kieffer, a Lucas County prosecuting attorney assigned to the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department.

On April 18, Toledo-Lucas County Health Department inspectors visited 23 establishments for which complaints had been received, and they observed violations in less than half. Some establishments where violations were found, including Platinum Showgirls, are repeat offenders and are appealing fines.

A few holdouts remain, Dr. Grossman said, even though most establishments in Toledo and Lucas County have halted smoking, and many residents are happy with the ban.

"It's not a compliance issue - it's a defiance issue," Mr. Kieffer told health board members last week.

Sometimes, defiance leads to confrontations.

At Debi's Southwyck Lounge in Toledo, a drunken customer on April 18 tried to pick a fight with an inspector, said Konni Sutfield, environmental health supervisor. Some establishments encourage their customers to resist the smoking ban, and the Debi's Southwyck Lounge bartender announced that the health department was there and wanted people to put out their cigarettes, he said.

Police will go out with inspectors to problem establishments if necessary, and the health department will pursue criminal charges against those threatening inspectors, Mr. Kieffer said.

The owner of Debi's Southwyck Lounge, deemed a repeat smoking ban offender, and other establishments that continue to get complaints say they are not being defiant. They simply cannot afford to either argue with customers or repeatedly call police for fights about smoking, which would be noted on their liquor licenses, said Debi Coon, owner of the establishment.

The local health department isn't fully enforcing the smoking ban by not targeting individuals, who can be fined $100 for repeat offenses, Ms. Coon said. Owners and bartenders shouldn't have to deal with irate customers told not to smoke if inspectors don't, she said.

"They are not doing their part," Ms. Coon said. "There's some defiant people about this ban who refuse to put their cigarettes out."

Added Ms. Coon, who employs female bartenders: "You come here 12 o'clock at night, you get some big boys. … I really don't feel that a cigarette should put me out of business."

Julie Love, manager of Centre Court Lounge in Toledo, said drunken customers, upset when bartenders refuse to serve them more alcohol, have anonymously called to report smoking violations at the bar. That is a hassle for the bar, where inspectors didn't find any violations April 18.

"It just becomes a real problem," Ms. Love said.

Smoking ban holdouts and financial implications can be found beyond the borders of Lucas County, where officials contend it is an establishment's responsibility to stop their customers from lighting up.

The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department is one of five local agencies statewide dealing with an establishment that has reached the highest fine level of $2,500, levied after four or more proven violations.

One top northwest Ohio violator is Rip Cord in downtown Toledo, whose owner has filed a lawsuit challenging the smoking ban's constitutionality and who declined to comment. The other is Rosebud Cafe in Upper Sandusky.

At the Rosebud Cafe, owner Andrea Iles said her business didn't comply with the smoking ban until about two months ago, when Wyandot County Health Department officials threatened to start doubling fines to $5,000 each. More than 90 percent of the bar's regulars smoke, she said.

"I was very opposed to the ban, and most of the patrons are, so we were ignoring it, basically," admitted Ms. Iles, who has paid up instead of taking the appeals route.

Unlike Toledo-Lucas County, the Wyandot County Health Department has not racked up overtime expenses investigating smoking ban complaints in the evenings because inspectors have been working flex time as needed, said Jeff Ritchey, director of environmental health.

In Erie County, which has the second-highest number of smoking complaints in northwest Ohio, a part-time contract employee was hired to help keep down costs, Health Commissioner Peter Schade said.

The Ottawa County Health Department also went with a contract position for the compliance program after officials assessed what inspections would entail, said Nancy Osborn, Ottawa County health commissioner.

Still, at $15 an hour and an average of 20 hours a week in Erie County, the part-time position without benefits for smoking compliance costs the health department nearly $16,000 a year, Mr. Schade said. That does not include administrative and other costs, he said.

Erie County likely has a large number of smoking complaints because it is a tourist area, and some out-of-state visitors are unaware of the ban, Mr. Schade said. Health department officials have been working with establishments to conform to the ban, and only a couple of them are repeat offenders, he said.

"Overall, things are going pretty well," Mr. Schade said.

The Williams County Health Department has financial difficulties that go beyond enforcing the smoking ban, and voters have twice rejected a 1-mill levy that would have cost the owner of a $100,000 house about $30 a year, said James Watkins, Williams County health commissioner.

"We have to cut back where we can," Mr. Watkins said. "It's a bad time for us right now."

The state anticipated some local departments might have financial challenges enforcing the smoking ban, so it gave them the ability to opt out with 30 days' notice, said Kristopher Weiss, a state health department spokesman.

Ohio health officials are working with local departments to find ways to make the process more efficient and less costly, Mr. Weiss said.

Some local health officials have suggestions.

Inspectors should be able to write tickets and have civil hearings when violations are found instead of going through cumbersome, paperwork-intensive procedures to investigate complaints and notify establishments, said Brad Espen, director of environmental health for the Wood County Health Department.

Warning letters and fines need to be sent as certified mail, which is time-consuming and costly, various local health officials said.

"You just get buried in it," Mr. Espen said. "By the time you collect $100, you've already spent way more than that."

The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department also has made suggestions to the state geared at keeping down costs and streamlining the process, Mr. Ruffell of the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department said.

"It is a [financial] concern, and we've voiced that concern to the state," he said.

Contact Julie M. McKinnon at:
jmckinnon@theblade.com
or 419-724-6087.

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