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MINUTES April 5, 2001 3 BOARD OF HEALTH Heidi Trottier, Mashpee business owner, non-smoker and President of the Mashpee Chamber of Commerce stated that she supports the Mashpee business owners. She stated that she has never experienced a problem with smoke in any Mashpee restaurant due to the good ventilation systems in place. She believes it is the choice of the consumer and employee whether they want to go to a specific establishment. She further states that many of the businesses in town give back to the community and that this regulation would be taking away from the restaurant owners. Mr. Jim Kiley, Mashpee resident and Area Director for Cape Cod and Southeastern Massachusetts for the "99" restaurants stated that the Board of Health has done a great job in the past. The "99" spent a lot of money on a ventilation system that works very well. Mr. Kiley feels that freedom of choice is very important and is the main issue with the proposed regulation. The current regulation is very fair. He felt that due to the lack of attendance by citizens in favor of the regulation that the citizens are speaking now. Chairman Ball asked if there are currently any non-smoking "99" restaurants in the Cape Cod/Southeastern Massachusetts area. Mr. Kiley responded that there are three restaurants that are non-smoking. These restaurants have suffered a substantial decrease in sales since the smoking bans were instituted in those towns. The Yarmouth restaurant lost about 15% and the Dartmouth restaurant lost about 13% (Fairhaven is too new to have figures). Ms. Kelly Carroll, Mashpee resident and restaurant employee stated that businesses are losing money by these bans coming into effect. She feels that the Mashpee regulations are good and that people can make their own choices by having smoking and non-smoking sections. Mr. Santos stated that he had hoped for more input from residents of Mashpee and that he feels betrayed by the backdoor politics involved in the article being submitted for the town meeting warrant. Bobby Byrne, Mashpee resident and owner of Bobby Byrne's Pub in Mashpee stated his dismay for the regulation as submitted and for the politics involved in the attempt to get the regulation passed at town meeting. Mr. Byrne went on to describe his fight against the "tobacco wars" over the past ten years. Mr. Byrne compared those involved in moving the regulation forward to "carpetbaggers", "outsiders" and ,.strangers" coming into town in an effort to push their own agenda forward. He stated that he wants the Board of Health to take a stand on the issue. Mr. Bryan Anderson, tax-payer and business owner in town asked the Board of Health to provide restaurants and business owners with real scientific data showing the effects of second hand smoke on patrons and employees of restaurants and bars. Mr. Jeff Dinger of the Tobacco Education Coalition of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket presented his arguments in favor of the proposed smoking regulation. He cited statistics from the Massachusetts Restaurant Association's study indicating the lack of evidence to support the economic impact argument by the restaurants and bars.