Citizens for a Smoke-free Nodaway County have given up their attempt to get a workplace smoking ban petition referendum before Maryville voters during the April 6 election.
But organizers of the effort to prohibit smoking inside all places of employment inside the city limits, including private clubs, say they will soldier on and have set their sights on the following election date of June 8.
Teri Harr, a spokesperson for the smoke-free coalition and the health education coordinator at St. Francis Hospital & Health Services, said the group met Tuesday and has already collected 500 signatures of the approximately 1,700 needed for ballot certification.
In order to make the April ballot, the group would have had to turn those signatures in for municipal review and ultimate certification by Nodaway County Clerk Beth Walker last week.
The petition effort, which began late last year, hit a snag after the City of Maryville discovered it lacked the statutory machinery to allow such a petition drive to move forward. Maryville's City Council moved quickly to pass an authorizing ordinance governing initiatives and referendums on Dec. 28, but the holiday season and the worst winter weather in more than 20 years slowed the signature collection effort.
Now that it has decided to shoot for June, Citizens for a Smoke-free Nodaway County has about seven weeks to collect the necessary signatures. Harr said volunteers — including high school students active in the local Smoke Busters program — are already in the field asking parents, friends and neighbors to support the referendum.
State law requires that in order for a third-class city like Maryville to get a referendum on the ballot, petitioners must collect verifiable signatures from 25 percent of the registered voters living within the city limits. Harr said the group hopes to "pad" it's petition with about 300 extra signatures, for a total of 2,000, since some names will probably be thrown out. She also said the group will meet again on Feb. 2 in order to organize a door-to-door campaign.
In the meantime, Maryville voters wishing to sign the petition may do so at the Nodaway County Health Center. Smoking ban supporters must sign their names, print their names and give their address, and then each page of 14 signatures must be notarized.
Harr said she was confident that the measure will go before voters in June.
"I really have no doubt that if we get out door to door we'll be able to get the signatures we need," she said. "I was very pleasantly surprised by the number of people who came to the meeting and said they would help. It's a lot of work.
“It takes time and effort to go out and get the signatures."
In deference to local business owners and private organizations who have voiced opposition to the smoking ban, the coalition has modified its proposed ordinance.
If approved, the measure would now ban smoking inside all workplaces and outside for 10 feet from main entrances, rather than 20 feet as first proposed. In addition, smoking would be allowed on decks and patios provided that such outdoor spaces are not staffed.
"Our basic premise is that we are trying to protect workers. So if they have a deck, and there is no worker there, people can can go out and smoke," Harr said.
Maryville, Mo. —
