Posted on 07/08/2002 9:22:39 AM PDT by SheLion
Running Scared in Eden Prairie
Eden Prairie leaders agreed Tuesday to ask the Minnesota Attorney General’s office for an opinion on whether the city has the authority to adopt a local smoke-free ordinance or not in light of a recent court decision. However, that decision didn’t come easy.
Instead of beginning to mold a proposed ordinance regulating smoking in such places as restaurants and hotels during a longer than usual workshop, City Council member David Luse steered discussion toward a Ramsey County District judge’s ruling Friday on the Minnesota Partnership for Action Against Tobacco (MPAAT).
Luse said he would walk out of the room and “recuse” himself from any ordinance discussion until more information on the ruling and how it will affect the city’s proposal were known.
Judge Michael Fetsch concluded that MPAAT’s four-year focus in using tobacco settlement money to fund efforts to ban smoking in restaurants is without “legal or factual justification.” Fetsch wrote in the 10-page document that MPAAT has “departed from and has ignored” one of its primary missions: to help people stop smoking.
The American Cancer Society has received grant money from MPAAT for its smoke-free ban lobbying efforts. Clean Air on the Prairie, the coalition lobbying the city for the ordinance, is comprised of local volunteers from the American Cancer Society.
“It’s a very severe slap on the hand,” City Attorney Ric Rosow told council members. “(The judge is saying to MPAAT) you didn’t follow the mandate in which you were set up, now go back and redo it and submit a plan that I the judge am going to approve, and then I want you to follow up that plan.”
But Rosow concluded “there is nothing in that order that prevents this council from proceeding under the ordinances of which it governs to establish” or not establish such a law.
“The decision did not address the ability of this city or any other city to adopt an ordinance,” Rosow said.
Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens and Council member Ron Case called Luse’s actions a “delaying tactic.” Luse denied that, saying he has been “consistent” on an expected MPAAT ruling since the ordinance surfaced at the council level in April. He noted that he had urged the council to hold off on discussion of the issue until after the ruling, originally expected in May.
During discussion, Tyra-Lukens told Luse there is nothing preventing the city from being sued on any action the city takes. Luse repeatedly voiced concerns that the city be careful, considering the MPAAT ruling, not to do something that was illegal nor put the city at risk (and “spending taxpayer dollars”) of a lawsuit.
“I have no doubt we are going to be sued,” he told the mayor. “I’m concerned about taxpayer dollars. This is not about delaying tactics or whatever. I’ve been consistent on that. I cannot participate in this discussion as it relates to a specific ordinance. And I won’t listen to either side of the discussion.”
After the meeting, Luse said getting the attorney general’s opinion would give him and many residents some peace of mind.
“Ric Rosow is a great attorney, but the residents are going to be a heck of a lot more comfortable knowing that we have this attorney general’s opinion rather than the city attorney’s opinion,” he said.
Rosow said it could take about seven weeks to get an opinion back from the attorney general’s office. It looks as if the earliest the council could discuss the issue again is at its Aug. 20 meeting.
What will actually be sent to the attorney general’s office for perusal is a revised draft ordinance that Tyra-Lukens noted would mostly likely be more restrictive than the final law.
“Although I would like to get moving on this as soon as possible, if one of the ways to do that is to run this ordinance by the attorney general I would feel pretty comfortable with that,” Tyra-Lukens said.
She asked Luse if that would give him comfort?
“Oh, I have no doubt,” he said.
A more complete story on the meeting will be in next Thursday’s Eden Prairie News.
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