By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- Smoking is now banned within 25 feet of the Town Hall, and town lawmakers are considering extending the restriction to other municipal property.

Town Supervisor Joe Gray said the proposal, which passed unanimously, is in response to complaints the police have received about smoke wafting into peoples’ workspaces in the building during business hours.

“By far the largest complaint he (Chief Adam Love) gets is smokers too close to the building and the infiltration of smoke in office space,” Gray said. “I come here in the morning in the police entrance. Until very recently when we moved the butt can, it smelled like smoke.”

He said the law is not aimed at punishing smokers walking past the building at night or on weekends.

“The intent is to stop the smell from infiltrating and loitering during business hours,” Gray said.

He said Love told him Massena Police patrolmen will enforce the new ban.

Town Bookkeeper Nancy Fregoe suggested they extend the measure to include the Massena Public Library, Highway Department and other town properties.

Gray said he felt they need to take action because some smokers are “not considerate.”

“They throw butts on the ground, blow smoke in the building. I hate to do it, but we have to,” he said.

He says he also supports smokers’ rights, despite being a non-smoker.

“I appreciate the chief’s concern, I appreciate smokers’ rights … I’ve always said, when they’re done with the smokers, they’re coming after the fat people next.”