(a) Legislative Findings and Declaration.
(1) Cigarette smoking is dangerous to human health;
(2) There exists substantial scientific evidence that the use of tobacco products causes cancer, heart disease and various other medical disorders;
(3) The Surgeon General of the United States has declared that nicotine addiction from tobacco is similar to addiction to cocaine and is the most widespread example of drug dependence in the country.
(4) The Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse concluded that the majority of Americans who die each year from cigarette smoking became addicted to nicotine as adolescents before the age of legal consent;
(5) The National Institute on Drug Abuse found that cigarette smoking precedes and may be predictive of adolescent illicit drug use; and
(6) The enactment of this chapter directly pertains to and is in furtherance of the health, welfare and safety of the residents of the City, particularly those residents under eighteen years of age.
(b) Definitions. The following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them:
(1) "Tobacco products" means any substance containing tobacco leaf, including, but not limited to, cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, snuff, chewing tobacco or dipping tobacco.
(2) "Vending machine" means any mechanical, electric or electronic self- service device which, upon the insertion of money, tokens or any other form of payment, dispenses tobacco products.
(c) Sales, Etc.; License Required.
(1) No person shall sell or offer for sale at retail, give away, deliver, or keep with the intention of selling at retail, giving away or delivering, tobacco products within the City, without having first obtained a tobacco dealer's license therefor pursuant to this section.
(2) Such license shall be in addition to any other license required.
(d) License Application. Application for a license hereunder shall be made in writing to the City of Geneva and shall be processed in accordance with the policy set forth by the City Manager.
(e) License Fee. The license fee for a tobacco dealer's license shall be fifty dollars ($50.00), as set by policy.
(f) Sales to Minors. No person, including any licensee, shall sell, offer for sale, give away or deliver tobacco products to any person under the age of eighteen years.
(g) Posting Age Warning Signs.
(1) Every person in control of any place within the City where cigarettes or other tobacco products are sold, whether by a person or by a vending machine, shall display at all times, in a prominent place on the premises thereof, or in a prominent place on such cigarette or other tobacco product vending machine, a printed sign which shall read substantially as follows:
WARNING TO PERSONS UNDER AGE
If you are under the age of eighteen and if you order, pay for, share the cost of, attempt to purchase, possess or use any cigarettes or other tobacco products, or if you furnish false information as to your name, age or other identification, you are subject to punishment in the Juvenile Court of Ashtabula County, Ohio.
(2) No person selling cigarettes or other tobacco products shall fail to comply with this division.
(h) Minimum Age to Sell Tobacco Products. No licensee, or any officer, associate, member or employee of a licensee, shall permit any person under eighteen years of age to sell tobacco products in any licensed premises without the supervision of an adult employee eighteen years or older.
(i) Purchase by Minors. No person under the age of eighteen years shall purchase tobacco products, misrepresent his or her identity or age, or to use any false or altered identification for the purpose of attempting to purchase or purchasing tobacco products.
(j) Possession and Use by Minors.
(1) No person shall give, sell, transfer or otherwise distribute cigarettes or other tobacco products to any person under the age of eighteen.
(2) No person under the age of eighteen years shall smoke, use cigarettes or other tobacco products or possess any substance containing tobacco.
(3) No person under the age of eighteen years shall order, pay for, purchase, share the cost of or attempt to purchase cigarettes or other tobacco products.
(4) No person under the age of eighteen years shall knowingly show or give false information concerning his or her name, age or other identification for the purpose of purchasing or otherwise obtaining cigarettes or other tobacco products in the City where cigarettes or other tobacco products are sold.
(5) No person shall knowingly furnish any false information as to the name, age or other identification of any person under eighteen years of age for the purpose of obtaining, or with the intent to obtain, cigarettes or other tobacco products for a person under eighteen years of age, by purchase or as a gift.
(6) No person under the age of eighteen years shall possess any tobacco products. However, the possession of tobacco products by a person under the age of eighteen years, under the direct supervision of the parent or guardian of such person in the privacy of the parents or guardian's home, shall not be prohibited.
(k) Proximity of Sales to Certain Institutions. No person shall sell, offer for sale, give away or deliver tobacco products within 100 feet of any school, child-care facility or other building used for education or recreational programs for persons under the age of eighteen years. Vendors in existence at the time this section was adopted shall be exempt from this section.
(l) Free Distributions. No licensee or any person in the business of selling or otherwise distributing, promoting or advertising tobacco products, or any employee or agent of any such licensee or person, in the course of such licensee's or person's business, shall distribute, give away or deliver tobacco products free of charge to any person on any right-of-way, park, playground or other property owned by the City, any public district, any park district or any public library.
(m) Vending Machines.
(1) No licensee shall sell or offer for sale, give away, deliver, or keep with the intention of selling, giving away or delivering, tobacco products by use of a vending machine.
(2) Any premises where access by persons under the age of eighteen years is prohibited by law, or premises where the public is generally not permitted and where vending machines are strictly for the use of employees of a business located at such premises, shall be exempt from the requirements of this division.
(n) Responsibility for Agents and Employees. Every act or omission to act, of any nature whatsoever, constituting a violation of any of the provisions of this section by an officer, director, manager or other agent or employee of any licensee, shall be deemed and held to be the act of such licensee, and such licensee shall be punished in the same manner as if such act or omission to act had been done or omitted by the licensee personally.
(o) Suspension or Revocation of License; Fines; Costs.
(1) The City Manager shall be charged with the administration of this section. The City Manager may suspend or revoke any license issued under the provisions of this section if he or she determines that the licensee has violated any of the provisions of this section. In lieu of suspension or revocation of a license, the City Manager may levy a fine against the licensee. The fine imposed shall not exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00) for each violation. Each day on which a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation. However, no such license shall be suspended or revoked, nor shall a licensee be fined, except after a public hearing by the City Manager within seven days of written notice to the licensee, affording the licensee an opportunity to appear and defend himself or herself against the charges contained in such notice. The seven-day notice provisions shall begin the day following delivery of such notice by certified mail or by personal service.
(2) If the City Manager determines, after a public hearing, that the license should be revoked or suspended or that the licensee should be fined, the City Manager shall, within seven days of such hearing, state the reason for such determination in a written order and state the amount of the fine, the period of suspension or that the license has been revoked, and serve a copy of such order within such seven days upon the licensee.
(3) Any licensee determined by the City Manager to have violated any of the provisions of this section shall pay to the City the costs of the hearing before the City Manager on such violation. The City Manager shall determine the costs incurred by the City for said hearing, including, but not limited to, court reporter's fees, the costs of transcripts or records, attorneys' fees, the costs of preparing and mailing notices and orders and all other miscellaneous expenses incurred by the City, or such lesser sum as the City Manager may allow.
(4) The licensee shall pay said costs to the City within thirty days of notification of the costs by the City Manager.
(5) Failure to pay said costs within thirty days of notification is a violation of this section and may be cause for license suspension or revocation has or the levy of a fine.
(p) Use of Premises After Revocation. When any license has been revoked for any cause, no license shall be granted to the licensee for a period of six months thereafter for the conduct of the business of selling tobacco products in the premises described in such revoked license.
(q) Penalty.
(1) Any person eighteen years of age or older who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. If the offender previously has been convicted of a violation of this section, then any subsequent violation is a misdemeanor of the third degree.
(2) Any person under the age of eighteen years who violates this section is guilty of underage tobacco prohibition, a minor misdemeanor. If the offender previously has been convicted of a violation of this section, then any subsequent violation is a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. The penalty shall be as provided in Section 698.02.
(3) The juvenile offender will have the option of participating in a tobacco diversion program in lieu of a citation into Juvenile Court. The juvenile offender shall pay a twenty-five dollars ($25.00) service fee and must comply with the requirements of the tobacco diversion program for successful completion thereof.
(Ord. 2556. Passed 7-14-97.)