WELLSBURG, W.Va. — Brooke County will be the latest to implement a smoking ban following a unanimous vote Monday night by the five-member Board of Health.
Clean-air regulations from 2005 were updated to ban smoking at public venues such as bars, restaurants and video gambling establishments. It also restricts smoking at outdoor events such as fairs and festivals.
Board administrator Karen McClain said a major motivator for the new regulations was the county’s last-place ranking in the state’s environmental health categories.
“The Board of Health isn’t in control of a lot of (health issues) because, yes, in part because of industry, in part because we are a small county and have a lot of fast-food places and bars and gaming in a small geographic area,” she said. “What they could do is something about the second-hand smoke.”
Similar measures taken across the state have been approved over criticism. However Brooke County officials said they encountered no pushback.
“We got 10 written positive, support comments and four negative,” McClain said. “(Monday) there was nobody from the public—and it was on the agenda that they could come for a 20-minute comment period, There was nobody that came to speak against it.”
The new regulations take effect on July 1, 2015. Health department officials plan to work with the community to make sure they are prepared.
“The Brooke County Health Department, with their sanitarians, will be educating businesses so they know what their responsibility is—and helping them get into compliance,” McClain said.
Brooke County joins other entities, such as nearby Hancock County, that recently strengthened regulations on smoking
“We want our residents to live,” McClain said. “If there’s something that a board of health can do to help years of potential life, that’s what they need to do.”