Eastside bar gets city's first fine in expanded smoking ban - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

An Indianapolis bar is facing the first fine in connection with the city's expanded smoking ban.

An employee at the Hilltop Tavern on E. 10th Street in the Warren Park neighborhood received the first citation on Monday.

"I have been off all weekend and I had no idea," said the bartender who was issued the citation, who asked that we not use her name.  "I have been off since Thursday so I came in and everybody was smoking and I just got wrote a hundred dollar fine."

She claims that the owner of the tavern had called Indiana State Excise for clarification on the new ordinance.

"We were just told we were exempt, from being here in Warren Park," she says.

And that is what she told Adam Collins, Director of Inspectors from the Indianapolis Department of Code Enforcement.

"This is the first ticket and hopefully the only one we will have to write," said Collins.  "Again, I think they claim there was some confusion, that they have been told something else by someone else, but that is why we issued the citation."

The confusion, for some, starts with the four towns within the Indianapolis city limits.  Lawrence, Speedway, Beech Grove and Southport are exempt from the Indianapolis ordinance because they are, by definition, "excluded" towns.  That means they are not required by law to adopt any ordinance from the Indianapolis City County Council.

There are 11 other towns also within the city limits, like Warren Park, that are considered "included".  They have elected officials, collect taxes, hire police and take care of their own streets, but are considered included in all Indianapolis ordinances.

Many in Warren Park assumed the town was exempt from the new smoking ordinance.  At least that is what Collins was told by patrons of the Hilltop.  They say they had conversations on Friday with both the fire marshal and state excise, who allegedly told them that they weren't included.

On July 1, the statewide smoking ban takes effect.  No towns are exempt from the new state law.