The city’s smoking ban never sleeps.

Tiffany Hurter, a bartender at Conroy’s, found that out the hard way this week.

Hurter became the city’s first nonbusiness owner or manager cited under the city’s workplace smoking ban early Wednesday.

Police officers received a tip that the bar was serving drinks after the legal cut-off time of 2 a.m. on Wednesday. A police officer went to the bar, 3115 W. Sixth St., and found no drinking but discovered Hurter smoking a cigarette while talking with a fellow employee and a couple of other friends Hurter had agreed to give a ride.

Hurter said she wasn’t aware she was breaking the law and said she didn’t think the ticket was justified.

“From my understanding, this was put in to protect employees,” Hurter said. “I don’t understand if he was trying to protect me from myself or what.”

Hurter said the one other employee in the establishment also was a smoker, who happened to not be smoking at the time.

City Prosecutor Jerry Little, though, said the law seemed to be clear on the matter.

“It is like I told her, it is a 24-hour ban,” Little said.

Tiffany Hurter, a bartender at Conroy's, holds the citation she received from a police officer Wednesday for smoking after the bar had closed. Hurter is the first smoker to receive a smoking citation. Hurter said she was unaware that the ban was still enforced after hours.

Hurter said Little offered her a plea bargain that would reduce the maximum $100 fine down to $25. She also would have to pay $42 in court costs.

Little said this was the first time the city had issued a ticket to someone other than a business owner. Typically, the city issues tickets to business owners or managers who have allowed illegal smoking to occur in their businesses. Smokers typically aren’t ticketed.

But Little said the ordinance always has allowed smokers to be ticketed. This situation was different from normal because a police officer was on the scene. Normally, Lawrence firefighters respond to smoking complaints. They typically do not issue tickets to patrons because city officials have determined that they do not have the necessary training to issue tickets to members of the general public.

David Corliss, the city’s director of legal services, said Hurter’s case did not signal a change in the city’s enforcement policy.

Hurter is scheduled to appear in Municipal Court on Oct. 12. She said she was considering taking the case to trial.

A Lawrence nightclub owner, Dennis Steffes, has filed a lawsuit in Douglas County District Court alleging that the city’s ban is unconstitutional. That case is awaiting a trial date.