A smoking ban that was supposed to come to a vote at Tuesday night’s Owensboro City Commission has been delayed as more details continue to be worked out, including giving bars back the exemption they might have lost had the proposal been passed as presented.
Mayor Ron Payne has been working on the smoking ban for some time now, announcing in July that city staff was working on a proposal that would be presented at this recent meeting. Payne called the bar exemption a compromise in the process, according to TristateHomepage.com.
The bar exemption comes in an attempt to keep those establishments who had permitted smoking to maintain their businesses. It is the second exemption to the ordinance, as the commission had previously exempted e-cigarettes from the ban.
The commission is scheduled to vote on the revised proposal at its September 2 meeting.
Owensboro is home to just over 58,000 residents.
