SUTTON — Voters here will decide in November whether their town’s drinking water will be fluoridated.

So far, there haven’t been arguments in the city for either side of the issue, City Clerk Sherrie Bartell said.

“We really haven’t heard anything,” she said.

The Sutton City Council passed a resolution 4-0 at its Aug. 12 meeting to put an item on the ballot for the Nov. 4 general election allowing residents to decide if the city’s water should be fluoridated.
In mid April, the Nebraska Legislature approved LB245, which now requires all communities with more than 1,000 people to fluoridate their water supply.

Sutton has about 1,300 residents.

Towns and cities that don’t fluoridate their water can vote before June 1, 2010, to opt out of the law. Those places where there is enough naturally occurring fluoride wouldn’t have to add any.

Bartell said the city will sponsor a town hall meeting on the issue.

Sutton residents have a bit of history voting against putting fluoride in their water.

According to city records, the item was voted down May 14, 1974. Bartell, who was not working for the city at that time, wasn’t sure if the vote was in a citywide special election or by the council.

Bartell said she thinks that past negative vote influenced the council’s decision to put the fluoridation matter on the ballot at this time.

“Since the citizens already voted it out, they wanted to see if that’s how the citizens still felt,” she said.
Elsewhere in Tribland, both Hastings and Franklin voters also will be facing the fluoride issue on the November ballot.

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