LAKE GENEVA — With the possibility a statewide smoking ban will be reignited in the coming year, the city of Lake Geneva is backing off.
The city council unanimously withdrew Monday night its directive to the city attorney to draft a smoke-free ordinance.
"I feel that (a smoking ban) needs to be a on a level playing field—the whole state—and that we shouldn't single out the city," said Alderman Penny Roehrer, who originally proposed that the city consider going smoke free.
A handful of local bar and restaurant owners turned out to speak against the proposed smoking ban, saying it would cripple their businesses.
"It seems apparent to me that this is a really large violation of our rights," said Rick Bittner, co-owner of the Next Door Pub and Pizzeria, 411 Interchange North. "For a lot of us in business, this is a very scary time. It's gonna be tough for a lot of us.
"Please don't take these rights away from us."
Local attorney Tim Swatek said a smoking ban would isolate the city, whose economy is driven by tourism.
"There are people who come up here and lodge, and they'll look at Lake Geneva and say, 'I can't smoke here? I'm going to go to Grand Geneva, which is in Lyons, or Lake Lawn, which is in Delavan,'" he said. "Those folks that otherwise would be walking the streets won't be here."
Swatek also said that local bars and restaurants saw an uptick in business when a statewide smoking ban went into effect in Illinois at the start of the year. Local bars and restaurants quickly would lose those patrons from south of the border if the city went smoke free, he said.
Alderman Mary Jo Fesenmaier said her support of a smoke-free ordinance was not meant as "any kind of personal attack" on local businesses.
"On a statewide level, it makes a lot of sense," she said.
But Mayor Bill Chesen, who had the final word on the issue, said even a statewide smoking ban is a violation of people's rights and would start government on a "slippery slope" to legislating other personal choices.
"(Smoking) is a right of use … and I think we're stepping all over it," he said. "And I would say that for the state of Wisconsin, as well.
"I think it's very important that we don't start down that slippery slope."