PORT ANGELES — City Council members voted 4-3 Tuesday to continue fluoridating the municipal water supply, rejecting the results of a recent advisory survey of water users.
Deputy Mayor Patrick Downie and council members Brad Collins, Dan Gase and Cherie Kidd voted for Kidd’s motion to continue fluoridating city water through June 30, 2026.
The city’s 10-year contract with the Washington Dental Service Foundation ends May 18.
“Government has a role in promoting and protecting health and safety by implementing effective public health measures,” Kidd said to a packed, sometimes raucous audience that packed the council chambers.
Mayor Dan Di Guilio and council members Lee Whetham and Sissi Bruch voted against continuing the practice.
“When this council asked the community what it thought, we committed ourselves to follow whatever,” Di Guilio said.
The survey of 9,762 water users inside and outside the city limits generated 4,204 responses by the Nov. 27 deadline.
Of the total, 2,381, or 56.64 percent, rejected continuing fluoridation, while 1,835, or 41.27, approved the practice.
Those against fluoridation said it caused or contributed to a host of health problems.
But Kidd said those against fluoridation accounted for only 24 percent of those who received surveys.
She concluded that the majority of voters — 59 percent — had “no problem” with fluoridation by not returning the survey or by saying on the survey that fluoridation was not an issue for them.
The vote was preceded by more than an hour of comments from citizens for and against the practice.
As a majority of council members coalesced to favor another decade of fluoridation, some opposed to the practice shouted out their disapproval, prompting Di Guilio to bang his gavel and call for order.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
