Just over a year ago, DeForest trustees voted to stop adding fluoride to the village’s water.
Then, after a shakeup of the village’s board, trustees started taking steps to reverse that decision.
But, on March 17, a vote to reintroduce fluoride failed with a 3-3 tie.
The deadlock came as a surprise to many. Nonetheless, supporters of water fluoridation in DeForest say the issue is not over.
Now, they’re focusing their hopes on an April 7 election that could secure a pro-fluoride majority on the village board.
“We’re waiting to have a new board seated,” DeForest resident Marc Storch said. “With that, we believe we will have individuals that are interested in public health.”
Why is fluoride added to water?
The American Dental Association supports adding fluoride to drinking water as a way to strengthen teeth and prevent cavities. And the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has previously championed water fluoridation as one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.
But, for decades, false claims about the negative health effects of fluoridated water have been spreading, and those claims have gotten a boost from U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
After months of debate, DeForest trustees voted 4-3 in February of last year to stop adding fluoride to the village’s drinking water.
Why did the re-fluoridation vote fail?
In the months that followed, one of DeForest’s anti-fluoride trustees was ousted in a recall election and another resigned citing personal reasons. That political shift gave a boost to people seeking to restore fluoride in the village just north of Madison.
In January of this year, trustees voted 5-2 to move the re-fluoridation process forward, when they directed the village administrator to prepare a resolution that would be voted on at a future meeting.
Since then, one of the pro-fluoride trustees, former Village President Jane Cahill Wolfgram, submitted her resignation on March 3, citing health reasons.
Even so, the pro-fluoride contingent believed they still had a majority on the board.
Last year, Trustee Jan Steffenhagen-Hahn voted against removing fluoride from the village’s water.
But, during last week’s meeting, Steffenhagen-Hahn said she has reconsidered. Steffenhagen-Hahn said she’s worried about the health effects of fluoride.
“I personally do not want fluoride anymore,” Steffenhagen-Hahn said last week, just before she voted against re-fluoridation.
Trustees Jim Simpson and Taysheedra Allen also voted against, with Allen arguing that the community should hit “pause” on re-fluoridation.
“I have been forced to get shots that I don’t want just to provide for my family,” Allen said during the meeting. “I don’t want anybody in this village forced to take a foreign substance against their will.”
In February, DeForest resident Bernard Coxhead filed a lawsuit, asking a Dane County judge to halt DeForest’s re-fluoridation efforts. Coxhead sued on a pro se basis, which means he is representing himself and did not use an attorney. The village has asked for his case to be dismissed.
And, earlier this year, former DeForest Trustee Rebecca Witherspoon sent a notice to the village, claiming that fluoridation would discriminate against her on the basis of disability.
DeForest officials have estimated it could take up to $245,000 to re-fluoridate the water. That includes the costs of upgrading equipment to comply with state regulations, and of expanding water fluoridation to the village’s south side. Previously, DeForest only added water to part of the village’s water system, but now officials are looking at adding fluoride village-wide.
A grant from the state could cover up to $30,000 of those equipment costs.
Fluoride supporter says political ‘roller coaster’ isn’t over
Last Tuesday’s vote came as a disappointment to people including Chris McDonald, who helped organize the recent recall election.
McDonald lives in the nearby village of Windsor, but said he’s concerned about DeForest’s water because his children attend DeForest schools, and he has family living in DeForest.
“It just feels like the board kind of ripped open the wound again from something that was healing,” McDonald said. “It’s has been a years long fight, and people are starting to get kind of exasperated (by), like, the roller coaster.”
For McDonald and other fluoride supporters, that roller coaster ride is not yet over.
“I’m actually out canvassing right now,” McDonald said while reached by phone two weeks ahead of election day.
Who’s on the DeForest ballot April 7?
Three candidates will be elected to two-year terms. Voters can choose up to three of the nonpartisan contenders. They are listed here in the order in which they will appear on the ballot.
- Taysheedra Allen
- Melanie Bartholf
- Alicia Williams
- Colleen Little
Allen, Williams and Little are all seeking reelection. Williams and Little voted in favor of reintroducing fluoride while Allen voted against.
The only challenger, Melanie Bartholf, wrote on Facebook last week that she was “disappointed that our Board did not move forward with re-fluoridation.”
After filing reelection paperwork, Allen told HNG News in early March that she was dropping out of the race, although it would be too late for her name to be removed from the ballot.
On March 19, two days after the board’s vote against re-fluoridation, Allen announced on Facebook Live that she changed her mind and was remaining in the race.
In that video, Allen said she had rearranged her work schedule so she could devote more time to local politics.
“I also wanted to honor the individuals that really love having me serve them and bring their voice to the village meetings,” Allen said.
Original article online at: https://www.wpr.org/news/after-board-votes-down-re-fluoridation-whats-next-for-deforest-water