Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, November 16, 2010,
Item 20
20, consider and take appropriate action on new interlocal agreements in the form of an establishment of a tobacco-free work site policy utilizing grant funds received by the city, that means city of Austin, from the centers for disease control and prevention under the united states department of health and human services review I can't the american recovery and reinvestment act.
that's a whole lot.
I thought we ought to bring this up separately from the other grant items so we could understand exactly what the county's commitment would be if we receive these grant funds, right?
>> yes.
sherri fleming, executive manager for health and human services and veterans services.
this grant has been before you a couple times.
judge and Commissioners, and essentially in summary this grant is designed to assist us in working with the reduction of tobacco and secondhand smoke in public facilities.
so what it basically commits us to doing is having us to use the funds a little -- almost $200,000 to employ a staff person whose job will be to draft a new policy for your review, to conduct necessary data gathering, public hearings, to discuss the implications of the county adopting a smoke-free workplace policy, which not only affects your employees but affects your constituents as they move about public facilities.
what this grant does not do is, you know, limit your authority in any way to approve or not approve a smoke-free workplace policy.
so basically it provides us the resources to do the necessary legwork, look at our old policies, you know, talk with your constituents, talk with your employees and propose a policy for your consideration.
>> dr. Deer, any additional comments?
>> yes.
good morning, Commissioners and judge.
smoking is a big, large killer.
443,000 deaths every year from smoking.
and majority from lung cancer and heart disease.
and from environmental secondhand smoke, there's 3,000 cancer deaths a year.
so it is a significant problem, and with this grant we'll be able to look at our current smokers and also implement the smoke-free, tobacco-free workplace policy.
and also provide other programs which will enable smokers to become nonsmokers.
>> move approval.
>> second.
>> any discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
thank you all very much.
>> thank you.
>> thank you for your patience.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 3:20 PM
