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REGULAR MEETING MARCH 29, 2016 exemptions where we say some workers should not be protected. She stated she is interested in trying to push this initiative county wide in addition to her vote tonight. Councilmember Randy Kelly stated as a co- sponsor of the bill everyone knows where he stands. This is primarily a public health issue and he agrees with Councilmember Voorde that this is about workplace safety. He stated he does appreciate Councilmember Dr. Varner's statement about personal choice. What has not been discussed much this evening is that we already subsidize smokers through increased insurance premiums, Medicare and Medicaid taxes, and higher medical costs. Those costs come with living in a free society and we already pay the taxes and he is willing to do that even though he is not a smoker. Councilmember Kelly stated his father was diagnosed with lung cancer more than twenty (20) years after he had quit smoking and that was before work place bans had been put in place. He was one of the lucky ones and lived more than five (5) years but then subsequently had heart disease which was attributable to secondhand smoke. We as a society are paying for smokers and their increased healthcare already but that again is the cost of a free society. There does need to be a line drawn and that line should be drawn in public places. Councilmember Regina Williams- Preston stated she has learned a lot and thanked everyone for their comments. She has spent a fair amount of time talking to her peers on the Council and also the public about this issue because it is her first time with this conversation. There is still more to learn and a big concern is enforcement. The City should not make a rule or law that it cannot be consistent with regarding enforcement. The Police Dept. and Code Enforcement have so many more issues that are more pressing than somebody in their private space smoking. There has to be better ways to promote public health. South Bend has to become a more healthy community but forcing people not to smoke in spaces that are their own is not the way to do it. Councilmember Wiliams- Preston stated she has been surprised by talking with people in her district that did not even know this conversation was going on or what they thought about and as elected officials we need to do a better job at figuring out what the people who elected us want. We should be talking about fifty -six (56) percent of people who live in Portage Township live at or below the poverty line and that is important because our smoking rate would be much lower if that percentage of people in poverty were lower. Those young people are stressed and that drives people to smoking more than anything else and we solve that with education and jobs. There is a better way to address the health issue than just saying people cannot smoke. Even though this has been talked about for a while things change, we may have a casino coming and vaping is still a very new thing. She stated she wants to learn more about Elkhart because that is important what happened next door. On the issue of exemptions many cities give exemptions that have been held up in court so why did we not include those exemptions. Yes it is important to bring these two sides together as Councilmember Broden brought up but we need to do that before we pass an ordinance not after and if that takes a year then so be it. Council Vice President Oliver Davis stated he is happy about the decision the Council made four (4) years ago when we passed a more restrictive non - smoking law than the state had in place and that should have been the end of this issue. His concern is that even after this the issue will come back again. It is a misnomer to say we have not already voted more strict measures than the state mandates. This would be a completely different issue if we were going to try to outlaw alcohol even though alcohol is a big health issue. If we want to talk about health issues why do we not address how people eat in this city. Even though those things are bad we are not going to outlaw them. Regarding Marion County, Indianapolis law covers ninety -two (92) percent which means those bars only have to compete against eight (8) percent of the county. Fort Wayne bars only have to compete against thirty (30) percent of their county. If this Council passes this law, South Bend bars will have to compete against sixty (60) percent of the St. Joseph County. That is a huge difference from Indianapolis and Fort Wayne and I want to talk about Indiana not the rest of the country or the world. We keep talking about this new South Bend and all the new young people coming here but what about the people who have always been here. This law is just going to run those people out of town. With all due respect to Smoke Free St. Joe, their name specifically says St. Joseph County. The County has the health department go talk to them and ask them to institute this change because I don't see your group talking to them. And where most of you have jobs and getting your money from is a hospital that left South Bend and moved to Mishawaka. Councilmember Oliver Davis stated he was concerned Smoke Free St. Joe has not 15