WHAT WE KNEW: Holmen has had about only one week of fluoridation in its water since a 2008 referendum passed to introduce fluoride. After the board installed equipment and turned on the fluoride, it voted to suspend the additive until expected new safety guidelines came out. The village’s water system still is not fluoridated. And last month, the board decided to change to a supposedly safer powdered form of fluoride.
WHAT’S NEW: Holmen’s village board will proceed with its plan to change the form of fluoride, at an additional cost of $72,000. At its board meeting Thursday, it voted to hire Davy Engineering for $6,000 to design equipment to accommodate powdered fluoride instead of liquid fluoride, the most commonly used form. But the question raised at a previous meeting, whether to put the question of fluoridation to the voters again in a 2014 referendum, was tabled. Also, a proposal to hold another referendum on fluoridation was tabled.
WHAT’S NEXT: Village Administrator Scott Heinig said he couldn’t give a timeline for when fluoridation might be accomplished. Davy Engineering didn’t give a schedule for its design plan. The board also voted to distribute information to all affected households on fluoride and how to remove fluoride, at least one month before the program begins.