Williamstown Looking at How to Enforce Smoking Ban for Apartments

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Board of Health and town health inspector are consulting with town counsel on how best to enforce a ban on smoking in apartment buildings passed by town meeting in May.

 

Although the meeting overwhelmingly approved the new bylaw, the Attorney General's Office in Boston took until December to rule that the restriction, believed to be the first of its kind in Massachusetts, complied with state law and precedent.

 

On Tuesday, Health Inspector Ruth Russell told the board at its monthly meeting that the town's lawyer told her to work on an enforcement policy.

 

She indicated that counsel said some things need to be clarified in the smoking ban.

 

"Their understanding was the bylaw was very clear when it came to enforcement of common areas but very unclear when it came to non-common areas [i.e., residents apartment units]," Russell said.

 

"That would be the issue. If we got complaints about smoking in someone's own unit, town counsel had concerns about how it would go forward. … Could we even get a warrant to inspect, and how do we go down that road."

 

Russell said she would investigate as soon as practical after a complaint is lodged, but given the ephemeral nature of smoke from cigarettes and discharges from vaping products, it would be difficult to prove violations of the ordinance.