County Attorney Rheubin Taylor said the county could face heavy fines for continued smoking in the enclosed garage under the City/County Courts Building.

"It could be up to $500 a day," he said.

County Attorney Taylor on March 10 sent a email to judges and court officials, cautioning them of the importance of stopping the smoking in the banned area.

Then on Friday, he and several other officials accompanied a state inspector on a tour of the garage.

County Attorney Taylor said, "He said it was a lot better than last time. But he still found cigarette butts in several places in the garage."

The inspector took pictures of the "evidence" of the health violation.

County Attorney Taylor said there have been four different complaints filed about the garage smoking. He said he does not know who lodged the complaints.

He said there are cameras in the garage, but he said he had not yet studied them to find out who had been doing the smoking.

Those parking in the garage include the judges, the sheriff and some sheriff personnel, Criminal Court Clerk Gwen Tidwell, Mike Griffin, an administrator in the clerk's office, and some court personnel.

City Court Judge Sherry Paty said, "Nobody on the city court side smokes so they need to look somewhere else for whoever is doing that."

General Sessions Court Judge Bob Moon said, "None of the Sessions judges smoke and no one on our staff smokes, so that fly is not on us."

The County Commission several years ago passed a resolution banning smoking in county buildings and cars.

The commission followed that up last year with a resolution that bans smoking within 50 feet of an entrance to a county building.

Here is the email from County Attorney Taylor:

HAMILTON COUNTY GOVERNMENT

OFFICE OF THE COUNTY ATTORNEY

MEMORANDUM VIA E-MAIL

TO:
HONORABLE CRIMINAL COURT JUDGES,
HONORABLE GENERAL SESSIONS COURT JUDGES,

HAMILTON COUNTY SHERIFF JIM HAMMOND,

DISTRICT ATTORNEY GENERAL BILL COX,

CRIMINAL COURT CLERK GWEN TIDWELL,

GENERAL SESSIONS COURT CLERK PAULA THOMPSON, and

CITY COURT CLERK JAN TURNER (turner_jan@chattanooga.gov)

FROM: RHEUBIN M. TAYLOR, COUNTY ATTORNEY
SUBJECT: SMOKING PROHIBITION IN THE GARAGE TO THE COURTS BUILDING
DATE: March 10, 2010

For the fourth (4th) time, Hamilton County has been notified by the Tennessee Division of Occupational Safety and Health (TOSHA), of a complaint received about individuals smoking in the secured garage located in the basement of the City-County Courts Building.

By adopting Resolutions No. 709-31 and 1095-3A, the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners has banned (in compliance with the laws of the State of Tennessee) smoking both in all County-owned buildings, and within fifty (50) feet of the entrances to same. Furthermore, both State and federal law prohibit smoking within confined garages.

Despite the fact that the County has passed said resolutions and posted signs around all of its buildings, violations of the State and federal statutes could subject the County to enormous fines, not to mention the public embarrassment that would accompany any publicity surrounding such incidents.

On Thursday, March 11, 2010, at 2:00 p.m., a TOSHA representative will be touring said garage to see what else the County should do in order to insure compliance with said laws. It is hoped that there will be no evidence of any violations noticeable either at that time or any other time in the future.

As elected officials, each of you are asked to advise your respective employees that smoking will no longer be tolerated in said garage (whether the door is opened or closed), and anyone found violating said laws and policy will be expected to be severely dealt with by their appointing authority. Should any appointing authority fail to properly deal with their respective employee, then the County Finance Division has been instructed to charge any ensuing fine(s) assessed to Hamilton County to the appropriate appointing authority’s budget, and said appointing authority may find themselves publically appearing before the County Commission to answer their lack of control over their employee.

Please be sure to circulate this important message to your staff and employees, and ask them to cooperate with this effort.

If my office can be of any assistance to either of you in this matter, please so notify me.

Cc: Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey

Hamilton County Commissioners

Hamilton County Chief of Staff Jeannine Alday

Hamilton County Human Resources Director Rebecca Hunter

Hamilton County Risk Manager Bill Stoll