ROXBURY — It’s no longer legal to smoke or chew and spit tobacco at the town office or fire department building, or in vehicles while working for the town.

At their Sept. 28 meeting, the Board of Selectmen voted 3-0 to approve a tobacco policy effective immediately.

“It not only bans smoking, it also includes other use,” board Chairman John Sutton stated by e-mail on Wednesday afternoon.

The policy states that Roxbury “is dedicated to providing a healthy and productive work environment.”

“Whereas the surgeon general has determined that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke, it is our policy to provide a smoke-free workplace,” it states.

Smoking tobacco products are now banned in all town-owned or leased buildings and vehicles, and all vehicles used during work whenever other employees or another person is in the vehicle for work-related reasons.

Additionally, the policy states that smoking and chewing and spitting of tobacco can only occur outside at least 20 feet from any workplace entryway, vent, window or doorway.

“Smoking is not allowed in any location that allows smoke to circulate back into a building,” the document states, citing a Maine statute.

The policy, which complies with Maine’s Workplace Smoking Act of 1985, applies to all employees, visitors, and contractors and to the town office and fire station.

In other business, selectmen appointed Christopher Bourgeois as Roxbury’s code enforcement officer, and Robert Folsom as plumbing inspector and alternate code enforcement officer.

According to draft minutes of the meeting, Bourgeois will be paid $16 an hour plus 45 cents a mile.

Sutton said Wednesday that Bourgeois is working to obtain his state certification during 2011, after which, he will be paid $20 an hour.

Both Bourgeois and Folsom, who is certified by Maine as a code enforcement officer, will represent the town in court concerning code violations.

Prior to the meeting, a Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife official conducted a public presentation about the department’s planned $170,000 boat launch at Roxbury Pond to replace the existing ramp that was built in 1993.

Work is expected to begin in August or September 2011 when the water level is lower and take two months to complete.

Federal funds will pay 75 percent of the cost, and the state will pick up the rest, so it won’t cost Roxbury anything, selectmen learned.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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