All tobacco products banned
Rocky Top Council approves measure concerning parks, playgounds:
Tobacco use will be further restricted in Rocky Top park and recreation facilities beyond last May’s ordinance banning smoking in city playgrounds if an ordinance passed on first reading last week gets final approval in November.
The City Council on Thursday (Oct. 21) voted unanimously to approve an amended Ordinance 557, originally passed on final reading May 20, to make it “unlawful for any person to use tobacco products or vapor products on the grounds of any City-owned or controlled playground, park, greenway, or property that is accessible to use by youth.”
Key differences in the amended ordinance are that the ban now includes “any product that contains tobacco and is intended for human use,” which includes any form of tobacco; and the addition of parks, greenways or property accessible to use by youth, which is defined as someone under age 21.
The measure would also ban “vaping,” a popular new smoking alternative that usually includes tobacco.
“We’re just expanding the ordinance in accordance with what Gov. Lee did [through the General Assembly], and amending our ordinance the same way Clinton did recently,” City Manager Michael Foster said.
“Greenway” is defined by the ordinance as “(a) an open-space area following a natural or man-made linear feature designed to be used for recreation, transportation, and conservation, and to link services and facilities; or (b) a paved, gravel-covered, woodchip-covered, or wood-covered path that connects one greenway entrance with another greenway entrance.”
Foster said the tobacco-use ban would apply to any walking trails set up by the city, as well.
But the ordinance also notes: “This prohibition contained in this section does not apply to buildings, sidewalks, or roads.”
The ordinance still must be presented in a public hearing and approved on second reading, but already has gotten preliminary approval on last week’s unanimous vote by the council.
Under a state law passed by the Tennessee General Assembly and signed by Gov. Bill Lee in March 2020, local governments now have the authority to ban smoking in public playground areas – but only with at least a two-thirds majority of the local governing board approving the measure. That law has since been amended to add the new restrictions.
The request for Rocky Top to consider the playground smoking ordinance came from ASAP, the Anderson County group that works to limit drug and alcohol abuse in the area. A representative of ASAP who was at Thursday’s council meeting said that vaping is now practiced by 20-percent of high school students in Anderson County.
The original ordinance defined smoking as “the burning of a tobacco product, a hemp product, or any other drug or substance, but [not] the use of a vapor product.” The ban also covers “parking areas and any permanent or temporary restroom facilities” that are part of a park or playground.
In other business:
Foster told the council that Rocky Top has received a Tennessee Municipal League award for “Excellence in Finance.”
In an announcement of the award at a conference in Chattanooga, the league said that “Facing considerable challenges concerning municipal audits and finance, the city of Rocky Top’s staff decided the best way to tackle these issues was head-on and with hard work and determination.
“In recognition of the concerted efforts made by officials with the city to improve its financial standing and address past issues with audits, the Tennessee Municipal League is pleased to present Rocky Top with an award for Excellence in Finance.”
The award was presented Sept. 21 at the 81st Annual Conference of the Tennessee Municipal League held at the Chattanooga Convention Center.
“In the past five years, officials with the city of Rocky Top have taken their municipal audits from repeat findings showing ‘a lack of financial oversight’ to an audit with no findings in 2020,” the announcement said. “Additionally, the city filed both its fiscal year 2019 and 2020 audits on time with the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office, a marked improvement from previous years in which the office reported audits were filed an average of 123 days late.
“The Comptroller’s Office also reported that Rocky Top has reduced the time it takes to submit its annual budget from 109 days down to only 27 days.”
Foster credited two city staff members with winning the award for the city – City Recorder Kari Bates and accounting clerk Ally Smiddy.
“They did all the hard work, and this is all on them,” the city manager said.
The municipal league’s announcement also noted, “City officials worked hard to bring Rocky Top’s bookkeeping practices up to par, correcting accounting inconsistences and issues.
“For the first time, the city of Rocky Top is also pursuing the Government Finance Officer Association’s prestigious Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting award, an honor that only about 30 cities and counties in Tennessee receive.”
The league said the city “is also in compliance with the state’s CMFO Act, with three current [certified municipal finance officers] employed by the city.”
Also, the league said, the city has “reduced its debt, and since 2017 has seen its cash-on-hand position improve from 15-percent to 28-percent of annual revenues.”