The move came after the majority of expressed an urgency to move forward with the process of developing a draft ordinance as soon as possible.
"For me, this is not about rushing a process or anything like that, but about doing the right thing," Mayor Todd Campbell said.
But Councilman Dave Golonski voiced the desire to carefully weigh the public's opinion before coming to any final conclusions.
"I understand the desire to speed up the process," Golonski said. "But I really do think that the nature of what we're looking at is really the kind of thing that we ought to get as much research as we can."
Though involuntary exposure to second-hand smoke — for example, while people are waiting in lines — seems to indicate that smoking limitations would be reasonable, banning smoking in other areas, like outdoor areas of restaurants and bars, are not quite as clear cut, he said.
"If the community wants it, I'm willing to support it," he said. "But I want to hear what the community thinks."
Councilman Jef Vander Borght made clear his strong support for a smoking ordinance, saying that he would support a measure similar to the one implemented in the city of Calabasas.
"My perspective is that the ordinance passed by Calabasas is the most comprehensive ordinance around," he said. "And I wholeheartedly support it."
But Golonski argued that the Calabasas ordinance goes too far and is composed of vague language, saying in the same breath that smoking is "essentially outlawed everywhere," then providing exceptions.
