City Council Work Session

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Two Rivers Council moved its long-running water fluoridation debate to a final vote Sept. 8, after another work-session discussion that surfaced competing health, choice and cost concerns but settled none of them.

Key Decisions

Council voted 8-0 to put the future of fluoridating city water on its Sept. 8 agenda for final action. The vote did not decide whether fluoridation will continue; it set the date for that decision.

Vote: 8-0

The council revisited a practice in place since 1952, weighing dental-health benefits against health concerns and the question of whether residents should have to accept fluoride in their tap water. Staff did not recommend an outcome.

The water utility director said nearby communities that stopped fluoridating generally had not collected formal follow-up data, leaving the council without much local evidence about longer-term effects after ending the practice.

Public Input

No public comments or communications recorded for this meeting.

Agenda Items

26-151 Review of City of Two Rivers Water Fluoridation Program and Action to Place on Future Agenda for Consideration and Final Action
Passed 8-0
Council continued its review of whether to keep adding fluoride to the public water supply, a practice Two Rivers has followed since 1952 and had not formally revisited in more than 70 years. Members discussed possible dental-health benefits, health concerns, individual choice, alternatives to fluoridated water and feedback from other communities that stopped adding fluoride. The utility director reported that the communities contacted had not done formal post-discontinuation research, so the local comparison offered limited evidence about longer-term outcomes. Council then unanimously scheduled the issue for formal consideration and final action on Sept. 8; that vote was about putting the question on the agenda, not about keeping or ending fluoridation.
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Roll call vote 8 yes 1 absent
Mark Bittner yes
Doug Brandt yes
Katherine Dahlke yes
Shannon Derby yes
Bill LeClair yes
Darla LeClair yes
Tim Petri yes
Scott Stechmesser absent
Adam Wachowski yes
water fluoridation program Full history →
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