SPANISH FORT, Ala.—The City Council will begin a dialogue during Monday’s 4 p.m. work session regarding the possible adoption of both a smoking ordinance and lodging tax.

Because neither measure  exists on the Spanish Fort books, Mayor Joe Bonner said City Attorney David Conner has been collecting comparable information from the cities of both Daphne and Fairhope to distribute to council members.

“Basically, we’ve captured what background information is available, and we’ve asked the members of the city council to do the same thing, and now we’re just going to sit down and hash it all out,” Bonner said.

Although an existing policy does state smoking is not allowed in city buildings and Spirit Park is a smoke-free facility, Bonner said a formal ordinance has never been adopted.

“We want to be fair to businesses, but we also want to be fair to those who don’t smoke, and that’s why we’ve got so much to talk about,” he said. “It’s really not meant to be an issue of smokers vs. not smokers. It’s an issue of courtesy, and we have to decide where to draw that line.”

See the rest of this story in the April 2 Spanish Fort Sun.