TEAM Newburgh seeks tobacco legislation

By Lina Wu
Posted 10/16/19

At last Thursday’s Newburgh City Council work session, Dawn Wilkins, the Director of Prevention Services for Catholic Charities of Orange and Sullivan County, and Regina Cieslak, the Assistant …

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TEAM Newburgh seeks tobacco legislation

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At last Thursday’s Newburgh City Council work session, Dawn Wilkins, the Director of Prevention Services for Catholic Charities of Orange and Sullivan County, and Regina Cieslak, the Assistant Director of Prevention Services for Catholic Charities of Orange and Sullivan County, spoke on tobacco legislation and compliance in Newburgh.

Wilkins and Cieslak are part of TEAM Newburgh. TEAM Newburgh is a community coalition composed of volunteers from different groups and levels of the community. TEAM Newburgh combats issues like substance abuse. Catholic Charities works as the lead agency for the coalition.

In 2015, Newburgh enacted legislation that prohibits the placement of any retail establishment selling tobacco products within 1,000 feet of any private or public, pre-kindergarten through high school learning facility. Prior to the legislation’s passage, licensed tobacco establishments within 1,000 feet could remain as long as they maintained code compliance. Facilities cannot renew their license should they fail to maintain compliance.

The law was passed in 2014, after being proposed by TEAM Newburgh to the Newburgh City Council. The law was passed through The Obama Administration’s Family Tobacco and Control Act. After the law was passed, TEAM Newburgh was able to work with the city to address tobacco sales and drug paraphernalia being sold as tobacco products.

According to Wilkins, local stores would put on “for tobacco use only” stickers on drug paraphernalia and sell them as tobacco products.

Wilkins believes that when the law was enacted there were around 54 to 56 licensed tobacco outlets in the city. In the first year, that number dropped to 25. In 2016, that number dropped to 18. In order to have a municipal license, the establishment has to pass all code. “We know from the beginning that compliance and checking was an issue that we would have to tackle moving forward,” said Wilkins.

Councilman Anthony Grice mentioned that he’s noticed that some tobacco outlets harbor activities that may violate code. Grice asked how this issue can be addressed. “When I just walk in and they have one bag of chips and a soda in their fridge,” said Grice. “They’re paying that rent some sort of way.”

Wilkins explained that former Police Chief Daniel Cameron would use this legislation with code compliance. Cameron would find businesses selling marijuana under the counter, guns, and beyond. Mayor Torrance Harvey explained that the current police chief, Chief Doug Solomon can possibly learn from and use some of Cameron’s past practices.

Harvey also mentioned that there have been challenges with the codes department. Harvey explained that he met with City Manager Joe Dounat to try to resolve these issues.

“Last year, there were 28 permits issued. This year there’s been 29 submitted,” said Dounat. Dounat explained that there’s been changes in the code office. “We’re in the process of putting together a way for this to be inspected and improved.”

Power Against Tobacco is one of TEAM Newburgh’s partners on tobacco legislation and compliance. Power Against Tobacco also works with the Orange County Department of Health. According to Wilkins, they discovered that the Department of Health is checking through municipal licenses, but not sharing information with the city.

In an effort to address the silence from the Department of Health, TEAM Newburgh received aid from Rep. Sean Maloney’s Office. Maloney’s Office reached out to the Department of Health to try to push collaboration. According to Wilkins, since then, there has been silence from the Department of Health.

At the end of the presentation, Wilkins explained that TEAM Newburgh will follow up with Maloney’s Office on communications with The Health Department. Harvey also offered the help of the City Council in making communications faster and more efficient.