… In a workshop Tuesday night at City Hall, the City Council decided to make a push to wrap the subject up with a possible vote at a February council meeting.
The update added to a number of city meetings that have broached the subject since around 2012, including a heated November workshop featuring Dr. Paul Connett, Ph.D., former director of the Fluoride Action Network and lead author of “The Case Against Fluoride,” and an October workshop featuring Stephen J. Duranceau, an associate professor from the University of Central Florida’s College of Engineering and Computer Sciences and an expert in water treatment, who presented facts about the benefits and concerns of adding fluoride to the water supply.
… Council members can choose to end the chemical additive practice. If that happens, the city would also have to choose whether to have the remaining fluorosilicic acid removed from the water treatment tank at a cost of around $1,000 or they can simply let the remaining amount be used up and not refilled. Additionally, the remaining funds from a $30,800 state grant received in 2013 to update fluoridation equipment would need to be returned — around $16,000 — if they end the practice now, years before the grant term ends.
The council can also vote to continue the fluoridation process. But council members have been dealing with pressure from a number of residents to stop using the additive.
Another option is to put it on the ballot and allow the city’s voters to decide…
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