WELLSBURG, W.Va. — The Brooke County Board of Health will vote Monday on a clean air ordinance.
The measure, to be taken up at a meeting starting at 7:30 p.m. at the Brooke County Courthouse in Wellsburg, would ban smoking in all businesses, including bars, restaurants and video lottery parlors, as well as outdoor public spaces such as ball parks, playgrounds and festivals.
The proposal would change the county’s current policy adopted in 2005 that allowed smoking in 25 percent of a business and did not include video lottery retailers.
Brooke County Board of Health administrator Karen McClain told MetroNews earlier that 80 percent of Brooke County residents are non-smokers and the board of health should have an ordinance that takes that into account.
“We do know how secondhand smoke, how dangerous it is, especially to children, people with asthma and older folks. Our board of health, given the poor ratings as far as health risk factors for our community, they want to enact 100 percent clean air,” explained McClain.
Hancock County, another northern panhandle county, passed a 100 percent clean air policy earlier this year.