Published: Saturday, Feb. 07, 2009 / Updated: Monday, Feb. 09, 2009 08:36 AM

Who will enforce bans on smoking?

Rock Hill, York County officials will rely mainly on customers' complaints

York County's smoking ban goes into effect May 1, but officials still are grappling with how to enforce it.

Under the ban, people who light up inside public places could face fines of as much as $50. Businesses that allow people to smoke also could be fined.

Rock Hill's smoking ban, which is almost identical to the county's, goes into effect May 1, too.

County Manager Jim Baker said officials are still developing protocol for handling violations.

City and county leaders ideally would like to offer a phone number for those with concerns about violations.

Enforcement will be driven largely by complaints, Baker said. That means those who see someone smoking in a business can contact the county or the city, and if there is a violation, law enforcement will likely issue a citation.

But Baker doesn't expect fleets of police officers and deputies to suddenly spend numerous hours investigating reports of burning Marlboros.

"We're not planning to send out undercover smokers," he said. "Across the country, these types of ordinances have been fairly easy to enforce based upon complaints."

That's essentially how the city of Greenville has enforced its ban, which York County and Rock Hill leaders used as a model for the smoking rules they approved.

"We don't have a crew that goes out and inspects restaurants to see if people are smoking," Greenville City Manager Jim Bourey said.

Greenville staffers report violations if they see smoking in businesses, and police officers will write citations if they observe people puffing in restaurants.

But intense enforcement hasn't been necessary, he said.

"It's been really well followed," Bourey said. "We don't have a lot of violations."

In York County, however, there's already opposition.

County Councilman Paul Lindemann said some local business owners -- and he declined to identify them -- have told him they'll continue allowing customers to light up.

"I have e-mails that have basically said, 'Look, we understand what you guys are doing. ... But as far as my business is concerned, I'm still going to do it and I'll be glad to go ahead and pay the fine,'" Lindemann said.

Enforcing the ban, Lindemann said, will probably be easier in more populated places such as Rock Hill.

"It's going to be tough to really enforce it in the rural (bars) where the same eight to 20 people patronize it every weekend," Lindemann said. "There's no doubt about it."

The ban does have some incisors for repeat offenders. If businesses refuse to comply, they could lose important licenses or permits, including a liquor license.

Still, what about the backwoods bars and tiny businesses where everyone knows everyone smokes?

"We're not looking for problems," Baker said. "People have always asked me the question of 'Well, what happens in that business that only has two employees, they all smoke (and) they don't really have any public customers?'"

" . . . My answer is I'm not really worried about them because the odds are, if that's really true, we'll never get a complaint and I won't lose any sleep over the fact that somebody's violating the smoking ordinance some place in front of only smokers."

Baker said he hopes the county can convince business owners to voluntarily comply with the ordinance, providing them all the details up front.

"We want to be absolutely prepared on May 1," Baker said. "Because if we do a good job for the first two weeks, most of the problems will go away."