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Regular Council Meeting January 27, 2014 Page 7 Mayor Hashmi said he was in favor of a smoking ban but it would need to be posted as an action item. Council Member Drake said she wanted to move forward with this. Council Member Grossnickle said second hand smoke was very harmful for everyone including employees of businesses, and favored a stricter policy. Council Member Lancaster supported going forward. Council Member Jenkins also said he wanted to move forward and he would like to see this go nationwide. Council Member Wright said he respected a person's rights and that of a business owner, but this was a big problem and something needed to be done to correct it. Mayor Hashmi asked city staff to post this item for the next agenda as an action item, as well as post a public hearing. Mayor Hashmi recessed City Council at 7:10 p.m. and reconvened into open session at 7:18 p.m. 21. Receive and discuss annual report and plans for the fire department. Fire Chief Larry Wright said in 2008, the east side fire station was closed, twelve jobs were cut, and the fire department struggled to keep firefighters because of the level of pay. He also said they had some equipment that needed to be replaced and one option was to pay for a fire truck over a ten year period. Chief Wright said he wanted to look at re- opening the east side station and maybe co- habitat with EMS. Mayor Hashmi said he was not in favor of a ten year lease purchase for a fire truck but would rather pay for it if the funds were available. Chief Wright said closure of the fire station in 2008 could possibly have an effect on the ISO rating. He also said the west side station was built in 1966 and the life of a fire station was thirty years. Mayor Hashmi said he would like to see a prioritized list prior to budget time, as did the other Council Members. 22. Discuss hiring of a public works director. Council Member Drake said she requested this item and that the position had been vacant for nearly one year. She emphasized this had nothing against the supervisory personnel at public works. She said the city manager had been overseeing public works and her concern was some of the issues over the last few months. Council Member Drake said the City was undertaking many big projects, one of which was the huge infrastructure project and she would like to move forwarding with hiring a public works director so the city manager could focus on the big projects. Council Member Grossnickle said he believed Mr. Godwin could make that decision, while Mayor Hashmi and Council Members Jenkins, Wright, and Lancaster said they wanted to move forward with the hiring of a public works director. It was a consensus of the City Council that the position be posted and advertised within the next two months. Mr. Godwin said if there were any specific problems with the department he needed to know so that they could be fixed. No specific problem was referenced by Council. 23. Discuss and act on incentives to encourage and assist downtown property owners and tenants to improve their facilities.