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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-01-04 Government Operations Committee Minutes Government Operations Committee Minutes Monday, January 4, 2021 Meeting City Hall Council Chambers Council Members in Attendance: Committee Chair Nichols Committee Member Schaefer Committee Member Okafor Councilor Davitt Committee Member Hawes Councilor Sprague Staff in Attendance: City Manager Conlow Assistant City Manager Cromwell Jamie Comstock— Public Health Agenda: 1) Presentation from the Public Health Department and the Flavors Hook Kids Campaign, regarding youth tobacco use prevention. Jamie Comstock from the Public Health Department opened the discussion by providing an overview of the Public Health Department's participation in youth tobacco use prevention programs. At the meeting were representatives from the Flavors Hook Kids Campaign,Theresa Kelly Gillis and Carol Kelly. Theresa and Carol provided information regarding the importance of reducing the use of tobacco in youth and provided three items that the Hooked on Flavors campaign is targeting in order to reduce youth tobacco use. The three policy changes being targeted are: 1) Ban the sale of all flavored tobacco products, 2) Increase the cigarette price by$2.00 per pack, 3) Protect public health funding, including ensuring Maine's tobacco prevention & control program is sustainably funded at the US CDC recommended level. The representatives asked if the city would be willing to support this campaign and allow the campaign to use the city logo and name when creating materials about the campaign showing who the supporters are. In general, Councilor's Schaefer, Sprague, and Davitt support the campaign. There was concern having the city shown as a sponsor as some of the population of Bangor may not support this campaign. The decision was made to take the topic back to full Council to determine if the majority of the Council has interest in supporting the campaign. This item will be brought back to the January 11, 2021 Council Workshop for further discussion.