City Council Prohibits Tobacco in Parks, Awards Hot-Mix Bid

BY MELANIE BUCK –

Mena City Council awarded a bid for the annual fall hot-mix overlay program at their most recent meeting. B&L Paving, of Oden, won the bid at $103.50 per ton for 3,600 tons of asphalt, for a total bid of $372,600. An exact date has not been announced as to when the projects will begin, as the city is waiting on more information from B&L, however, it is expecting to begin in late August or early September. The city has not announced which streets will receive the asphalt.

Also at the meeting, City Council approved an ordinance that bans all tobacco in all city parks, effective immediately. Ordinance #2265 was established to “prohibit the use of all tobacco products in City Parks.” Tobacco products are defined in the ordinance as including: “any product containing, made, or derived from tobacco that is intended for human consumptions, whether chewed, smoked, absorbed, dissolved, inhaled, snorted, sniffed, or ingested by an other means or component part, or accessory of a tobacco product to include, but not limited to: any lighted or unlighted cigarette, cigar, pipe, and any other smoking product and spit tobacco, also known as smokeless, dip, chew, snus, and snuff, in any form, including ‘e-cigarette’ and Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS).”

The ordinance can be enforced with a $50 fine for anyone caught using tobacco inside a city park. New signs will be placed in each park that will clearly indicate the prohibition of smoking in the parks. The parks include Janssen Park, McMillan Park, Aubrey Tapley Park, and the Depot Park.

Also at the meeting, Rick Chrisman was voted to fill the unexpired term of William Rainey on the Mena Advertising and Promotion Commission.

The next meeting of Mena City Council will be held on September 13, 2016 at 6 p.m. in City Hall.

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Jeri Pearson

Jeri is the News Director for Pulse Multi-Media and Editor of The Polk County Pulse. She has 10 years of experience in community focused journalism and has won multiple press association awards.

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