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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes March 27 , 2012 Page 3 I they fear that someone at the Flamezz Hookah will find out they called the Police and might 2 damage their cars in the parking lot. She recited a portion of the City Ordinance regarding 3 obnoxious noises and noted it is a violation to operate any device between the hours of 8:00 p .m. 4 and 7 :30 a.m. in a manner so as to be audible at the property line . She indicated this was a 5 nuisance all last summer and as neighbors, they deserve the r ight to be considered. She also 6 expressed concern about the young people who are smoking in the hookah lounge , which is 7 apparently worse than smoking cigarettes. 8 9 Mayor Faust closed the public hearing at 7:24 p.m. \0 II City Attorney Lindgren reminded the City Council that its role in a public hearing is to determine 12 whether violations of the City's tobacco license ordinance has occurred. He stated it is not a 13 question of whether these are criminal actions because this is a license hearing and the City 14 Council needs to be reasonable and deliberate. He opined that the Criminal Court decision is not 15 relevant to this discussion because the criminal proceeding involved a question of whether 16 something occurred beyond a reasonable doubt. He summarized the evidence, which includes 17 the Police Chiefs report of violations as well as incident reports showing smoking in the 18 business, not just sampling. He stated there has been a clear indication of tobacco use and 19 specifically pointed out the City's license as granted requires compliance with the State 's Clean 20 Indoor Air Act and the City Council needs to consider whether a violation of that law has 21 occurred. He noted the Clean Indoor Air Act is a law even broader than the City 's Ordinance 22 and pertains to any smoking. He reminded the City Council that this is an annual license 23 designed to be renewed on an annual basis and any changes to the standards are known to any 24 licensee. He stated the City Council's options include adopting a motion revoking the license 25 immediately or adopting a motion to extend the license to its full duration of March 15,2012. 26 27 Mayor Faust asked if State statute allows the City to be more stringent. 28 29 City Attorney Lindgren replied in the affirmative and stated the statute allows cities to adopt a 30 more stringent standard specifically with regard to prohibiting sampling of tobacco products, 31 which the City did in 20 II. 32 33 Councilmember Roth asked if the statute defines sampling. 34 35 City Attorney Lindgren advised the statute does not specifically define sampling, which is why 36 the Police Chiefs report includes examples of incident reports where tobacco was being sampled 37 for extended durations of time. 38 39 Councilmember Stille requested confirmation that the City's ability to be more stringent was 40 upheld in the court case in December. 41 42 City Attorney Lindgren replied this was correct and the question of whether the City had the 43 authority to adopt its Ordinance was upheld by the Court . He noted the recent acquittal ofMr. 44 Kiblawi was related to criminal charges brought for alleged violations of the City'S Ordinance 45 and the Court found him not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. He explained that the criminal