PITTSBORO — The Chatham County Board of Commissioners followed the lead of the Town of Siler City Monday night and made a county policy originating three years ago official.
It is now against county ordinance to use a tobacco product — including cigarettes, cigars and e-cigarettes and other vapor products — on county property, based on the commissioners’ unanimous vote.
The county had a policy in place prohibiting tobacco products from use, but it was just a policy, not an official ordinance. The commissioners’ unanimous vote makes it an official ordinance.
“This is a model that we really want to continue to perpetuate,” said Layton Long, the county’s public health director. “We really want Chatham to be on the cutting edge of tobacco issues and public health. It sends a message that Chatham County really cares about the health of its citizens.”
The Town of Siler City adopted a similar policy in September, extending its previous ban on smoking tobacco in municipal buildings and vehicles to include parks and all town property.
The ordinance passed by the commissioners cited the “health risks associated with the use of tobacco products” and statistics showing that “experimentation with and use of e-cigarettes have risen sharply among young people.”
George Greger-Holt, the community outreach coordinator for Chatham Drug Free, spoke during a public hearing prior to the item’s approval and specifically referenced the possible effect the ordinance could have on teenagers.
“Young people, especially young people, watch adults all the time,” he said. “Watching an adult use a tobacco product — whether it’s dip, chew, combustible — normalizes that behavior. If a behavior is normalized, then the leap from not doing it to doing it is much smaller than the leap if the behavior is not normalized. I think, if passed, it would really help a lot of young people either not start smoking or use tobacco products, or if they are, it will help them see that they need to quit.”
New commissioners Chairman Karen Howard said the ordinance was a good one, that “anything that we can do to forestall (youth use), or for people who are struggling to quit” was a positive step.
Long said that in the past few years there have been “very little complaints” about the county policy, and that most people who are informed will put out their cigarettes. Failure to do so, according to the ordinance, is punishable by a fine up to $50, but Long said he believed there had been no such fines assessed across the state.
“People will readily comply,” he said. “It’s pretty much been a non-issue as far as civil penalties being issued.”
The ordinance will go into effect on January 2. No current signage will be changed, Long said, because the original signs were constructed to stay applicable if the policy became an ordinance.
Reporter Zachary Horner can be reached at zhorner@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @ZachHornerCNR.