CAMDEN -- Unanimously, Camden's Select Board voted Monday evening to prohibit smoking within 20 feet of a town-owned building, park, beach, playground, picnic area, trail or athletic facility. This new policy applies to the Camden Public Library, amphitheatre and Harbor Park.

Smoking means "inhaling, exhaling, burning, carrying or having in one’s possession any lit cigarette, cigar, pipe, plant or other combustible substance in any manner or any form," the policy reads.

There is also a state law against littering, and that applies to cigarette butts.

The penalty for violating the policy can include being removed from the public area "at the demand of a town official [including staff] or law enforcement officer having authority over the public area. Law enforcement officers may also issue citations for criminal and civil violations, as applicable under Maine law."

Camden already has smoke-free areas in town, including the Camden Snow Bowl. Expanding the policy made sense, said Town Manager Patricia Finnigan, at the regularly scheduled Select Board meeting, held in the Washington Street Meeting Room, July 16.

Signs are being made and will be posted in town spaces, including parking lots.

The purpose is to educate citizens, said Finnigan. She said July 17 that this policy development is not uncommon in other municipalities, some of which have enacted ordinances against smoking in their publicly-owned places. Whether Camden actually pursues an ordinance based on this new policy remains to be seen. The town will gauge that on the policy's reception, said Finnigan.

"This is not supposed to be about confronting people but about educating them," she said, on Tuesday. "This is about being a healthy community. Second-hand smoke is not good for anybody. It is about respecting peoples' space."

Camden Public Library trustees have spoken to Finnigan about ongoing issues at the amphitheatre and Harbor Park, where teens tend to gather, sometimes smoking.

"Library trustees have talked to me about it," said Finnigan. But, she said, that was just one factor behind this policy development.

Nikki Maounis, director of the Camden Public Library, said at the meeting: "We very much encourage this policy. It would be a wonderful thing for us. The library and amphitheatre area is one of most heavily used public facilities in town. We work very hard to have a clean and safe environment. Clean and safe can't really happen when people are smoking and throwing butts on the ground. Familes notice. We have many discussions at library board about this and believe this policy will work for us."

As policy, it is not enforceable, meaning one cannot be removed from a location for smoking; however, Finnigan said: "Hopefully, most people will be decent about it."

Beth Ward, acting director of Camden Parks and Recreation, said Monday evening that the policy as it is enacted at the Camden Snow Bowl is self-policing.

With the signs there (erected in 2006), "it is an easy way to educate, and I've found that the public will do the education for us and the enforcing."

The Select Board voted in favor of the policy, earning a round of applause by those at the meeting.

Watch the entire July 16 Select Board meeting.

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Lynda Clancy can be reached at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 706-6657.