In a 5-4 vote, the Lake Forest city council on Tuesday voted down a ban on handheld cellphones, with the majority preferring to wait and see whether the state legislature will enact its own ban.

The council had split 4-4 on the issue before Mayor James Cowhey broke the tie.

“I’m for it in principal,” Cowhey said. “But I want to wait for the state.”

Other councilmen pushed for the ban to be enacted now, citing safety issues.

“We are talking about the health, welfare and safety of our residents, said Councilman Michael Adelman. “Just having it on the books is going to be a great deterrent.”

Councilmen Adelman, Robert Palmer, Donald Schoenheider and David Moore voted for it while Kent Elliot Novit, Catherine Waldeck, George Pandaleon and Thomas Morsch voted against it.

The council had originally considered two proposed ordinances brought by the staff last year. The first one was a ban on handheld cellphones while driving but hands-free headsets would be acceptable.

The second one addressed other forms of driving distractions, such as eating or putting on makeup.

The council had appeared poised to enact a cellphone ban, but State Rep. Karen May (D-Highland Park) introduced her own legislation a few weeks ago.

May’s proposal would ban cellphone use while driving but still allow headsets, city officials said. Another state representative introduced a similar measure, officials said.

Neither proposals may ever make it out of committee for a vote by the General Assembly, officials said. It may take about three months before city officials know what the state may do, officials said.

If Lake Forest had approved the ban, it would’ve followed other cities, including Highland Park, Glencoe, Chicago and Winnetka, that have banned handheld cellphones, officials said.