There are no plans for the Allegheny County police to round up people who smoke in office buildings beginning Tuesday.

If there were, they could park in the courthouse driveway and walk across the street.

The City-County Building, long officially a smoke-free workplace, has its share of surreptitious puffers -- including a few in top city offices.

"We're not allowed to smoke in the building, though I've been known to -- eh, heh heh -- in a closed room," said City Council President Doug Shields, an on-again, off-again smoker.

The county ordinance that takes effect on Tuesday prohibits smoking in public buildings and work places. Common Pleas Judge Michael Della Vecchia issued an injunction that delayed only the effect of the section of the ban that applies to bars and restaurants.

"I'm sure we're going to get all kinds of reports about people smoking," said County Council President Rich Fitzgerald. "It's not up to County Council to arrest people. It's up to people to follow the law."

Mr. Fitzgerald also pointed out that for the first six months that the ban is in effect, the legislation only calls for issuing warnings instead of handing down fines, which will start at $250.

Smoking has been banned in the City-County Building since 1989 by legislation that called for a $50 fine to be imposed for the first offense.

That hasn't stopped City Council members from lighting up.

Last week, the city received delivery of a Trion Eliminator Series SE 800E, an air conditioner-sized, ceiling-mounted device informally known as a smoke eater. It went to new Councilwoman Darlene Harris' office.

Does she smoke in the office? "If I'm here until 10:30 at night, yeah, I'll have one," she said.

But the device is primarily intended to address the chronic stuffiness in her office, she said, gesturing at the huge windows that catch the afternoon sun and open and close only with the application of brute force. "If you want to open them, you can, but you have to find someone to close it," she said.

Ms. Harris' is the second smoke eater installed among the nine council offices.

"There's one in my office, but it was here when I got here," said Councilwoman Tonya Payne, who has served since Jan. 3, taking the place of Sala Udin. "It works, because I keep it running. I do smoke, but I don't really need to use a smoke eater. I usually smoke in my car."

"Councilman Udin enjoyed a fine cigar now and again," Mr. Shields said.

Acting City Controller Tony Pokora said the city can buy the units using a county contract that puts the price at $1,290. The two governments increasingly collaborate on purchasing, using each others' contracts to add bulk and save money.

Ms. Harris said her order for a smoke eater didn't put the lie to the famed frugality she practiced as a city school board member for eight years, when she regularly took the figurative kitchen knife to budgets. She hasn't ordered any new furniture, she noted, and gestured to a shelf of cleaning supplies "that I paid for with my own money ... I think we're a cost-efficient office here."

The county amended the smoking ban so that smoking will be permitted within 5 feet of entrances to workplaces instead of the original legislative version that called for smokers standing 15 feet from the door. That should leave the tradition of smoke breaks around both the Grant Street and Ross Street entrances to the City-County Building unaffected.

Yesterday a Smoker's Outpost ash bin stood 8 feet from one of the Grant Street exits. A trash can that often serves as a magnet for smokers was just past the 15-foot mark at the Ross Street exit.