County sets smoking appeal plan

The co-owner of an Everett bar said she has lost an estimated $52,000 in revenue since the state’s strict indoor smoking ban went into effect in December.

Donna Kerns, who owns the White Elephant Bar &Grill in north Everett with her husband, John Troia, spoke to the Snohomish Health District on Tuesday about the effect of the law on local businesses.

On Super Bowl Sunday alone, the bar often takes in $5,000 to $6,000, she said. This year, she said, it took in $400.

For more info If a business has failed to post required no-smoking signs, or allows smoking indoors or within 25 feet of a doorway, complaints can be reported to the Snohomish Health District at 425-339-5237 or at www.snohd.org. For information on the law, click on the “100 percent smoke-free Washington” logo.

Kerns and her husband opposed an initiative approved by voters in November banning indoor smoking in businesses and public places. The ban also prevents people from smoking within 25 feet of doorways, windows and vents to keep secondhand smoke out of buildings and away from the public.

Smokers, pushed outside, have had to endure a string of 30 days of wet weather, plus cold and rain, Kerns said.

The law allows a business to apply for an exemption to the rule banning smoking within 25 feet of doorways, windows and ventilation systems if the business can show “clear and convincing evidence” that smoke will not reach the building’s interior.

Kerns pushed the health district to quickly adopt provisions for appealing the 25-foot rule, saying small businesses are “dying on the vine right now.”

In fact, the formal appeal process was on Tuesday’s agenda, and was later approved by the health district board.

Dr. M. Ward Hinds, who heads the public health agency, said health districts throughout Washington worked with the state Department of Health to try to come up with a similar appeals process.

The Snohomish Health District’s policy calls for a $100 fee for the appeals application and a $542 fee for a second appeal with a hearing examiner. Officials said the fees would help cover the district’s costs.

The policy also allows for businesses to request a “pre-appeal” meeting with health district staff to discuss problems at no cost.

After the meeting, Kerns said she would ask for an appeal of the 25-foot rule for her business.

The loss of business has taken a toll, she said. She and her husband thought of the 54-year-old business as their retirement plan.

Kerns and her husband built a lounge for smokers behind the bar, a 28-foot by 8-foot enclosed space decorated in a tropical theme. It has a wood stove to keep customers cozy, but she said she was told not to use it by city workers.

“That’s caused a lot of people to stay away,” she said.

“I’ve gotten shingles over this,” Kerns said. “When you see the tills down $20,000 a month, all I can be is depressed.”