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REGULAR MEETING MARCH 29, 2016 money when they go smoke free but studies have also shown that individual businesses, small business, get devastated by these smoking bans. When we come in a year from now these businesses will not be here and it is not anecdotal what happened in Elkhart. Anecdotal evidence is not an expert in the field saying there were thirty -eight (38) taverns in the city of Elkhart that were in business and that there are only fourteen (14) businesses left now. Those are facts. If these businesses even lose ten (10) percent of their gross income they will go out of business, they have a very thin margin and this will take it away because you want to enforce your morality on other people. You don't smoke so you don't want anybody to smoke and that's all this is because there are not enough businesses here to have such a public health impact. Also the health impact for smoking and secondhand smoke is not as bad as Councilmember Ferlic made out. James A. Masters, 350 Columbia St. South Bend, spoke on the behalf of Richman Master Distributor Inc. They are a wholesale distributor of products for grocery and convenience stores including tobacco products. They have 320 employees company wide and operates fifty -three (53) Low Bob's tobacco stores in the South Bend metropolitan area. Six (6) of those Low Bob's are in the city limits and employee twenty -five (25) people. This proposed ordinance gives no exception to anyone and Richman Masters asks the Council to remove tobacco stores from the list of places where smoking is prohibited. If this bill is passed South Bend will have the most strict smoking ban in the state of Indiana. All other Indiana cities that have adopted anti - smoking ordinances all expressly exempt retail tobacco stores from the ban. The business of a retail tobacco store is wholly dependent upon tobacco sales and has no other way to make up profits. Restaurants and bars have other principle profits. The courts have said exempting tobacco stores is reasonable because that is all the store can sell and their very livelihood depends on it. It is unreasonable for South Bend not to exempt tobacco stores and this ordinance will put tobacco stores at a disadvantage to other stores in the area. This bill would put the tobacco stores in South Bend at an unfair disadvantage to the stores outside of the city limits in the County and Mishawaka. This ordinance regulates the sale of tobacco in a tobacco store and goes beyond the city's powers to adopt regulations on restrictions of smoking in public places and if it is enacted without change would be subject to a legal challenge. Scott Carrico, 4202 Technology Dr., Vice - President of Master Distributors and Low Bob's spoke against the bill. As Jim mentioned earlier, this company employees 325 families and they depend upon me to make the right decisions and fight for the rights of the people we take care of. For the state, local, and federal government they collect over $60 million dollars in tax. We also pay $2.1 million dollars in payroll tax plus property taxes that benefit South Bend and our warehouse is here in the city limits. We are asking for the state law to be upheld and the exemption of tobacco stores remain in place. Our business has been here since 1936 and we do not have to be here. It would make more sense for us to be in Indianapolis by pure geography but we stay here because it is our home. A committee should be formed and we need to be a part of that discussion. Mr. Carrico stated he is not here to argue for secondhand smoke, he is here to argue for the employees under his care that will be hurt by this bill. People talk about jobs they can't get, we can't hire enough people for our warehouse that is smoke free. That is a fact. So when they talk about not being able to get good quality jobs in South Bend, we are actively looking for good quality people in a smoke free area. This is not fair to our industry and our company. Smokers are under attack, it is a dirty product, but it is a choice that can be made by an adult and if that is taken away what is next. Don't take this choice away from adults. Drew Duncan, 439 S. Michigan St., student and store manager of a vape shop in South Bend. Life as God's gift has been mentioned already but free choice is also a gift from God. As an adult once you reach the age of eighteen (18) you can make choices. There are plenty of establishments in South Bend that are nonsmoking. Mr. Duncan requested that the Council sends this bill to a working committee so that these unanswered questions can be analyzed. There are still questions about what happened in Elkhart. It needs to be studied what will happen to businesses in this city not in any other city. Vape shops will have to leave town and that is the definition of being economically affected. Mr. Duncan claimed a vote in favor of this bill robs him of the ability to invest in the city of South Bend and it will take his job. When things like this get passed without being thoroughly vetted they harm people like him. It is easy to be a 11