The Lyon County Clerk’s office has certified that the petition to put the smoking ban to a vote is valid. Lyon County Clerk Tammy Vopat said her office is working on the exact form the question will take on the April 7 city ballot.
The clerk’s office has verified that 793 of the signatures collected are from qualified Emporia voters. For the petition to be valid, 762 signatures needed to be collected.
According to Tammy Vopat, Lyon County clerk, the particular wording on the ballot has not been determined.
“We are still working on that,” Vopat said.
Steve Corbin, member of Emporia Open for Business and owner of Town Royal, 405 Commercial St., says the group will probably take a break after campaigning against the ban since it was passed in early December.
“I think we’re going to give it a week off, because everybody’s been working kind of hard,” he said. “It’s really a loose-knit group, so when we run into each other we just talk and see what we think.”
Corbin said the group will be working on advertising to continue its campaign against the ban.
“We’re going to do advertising direct to customers and stuff like that,” he said. “For sure nothing yet, but we’re going to get the word out there.”
The group is trying to get the city commission to postpone the effective start date of the ban — March 3 — until after the April 7 election.