Public will get to comment on smoking ban

Plenty of comments on both sides of the issueare expected at a public hearing Tuesday on a local law that would ban smoking on all property owned or leased by Seneca County.The county Board of Supervisors is likely to vote onthe law later in the meeting. The county has received letters of support for the proposed ban from Livingston County Administrator Ian Cole, Interlaken Public LibraryDirector Joan Hendrix, South Seneca Middle School Principal Stephen Zielinski, local doctors Timothy Ryan and Joseph Lorenzetti and Dr. Gregory Young, associate commissioner of health for the Western Region of the state.Opposition to the ban has been expressed at prior board committee meetings. The board also will conduct a public hearing on a local law to impose a 30-cents-a-month surcharge on wireless communication devices owned by county residents.The surcharge would be added to an existing surcharge on land line telephones to generate money for upgrading county 911 equipment. A vote on that also could be taken later in the meeting.