TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
After more than six months of considering the issue of whether or not to remove fluoride from the City of Merrill’s water supply, the issue is, at least for the moment, dead in the water. Initially, the proposal to remove the fluoride was brought to the Water & Sewage Disposal Committee at their June 24, 2020, meeting, placed on the agenda by Alderman Steve Osness. The Minutes of that meeting will reflect that Osness said that, for several reasons, he wanted consideration given to removing the fluoride from City water. He reported it costs approximately $2,200 annually to add fluoride to the water. Per the Minutes, it was also mentioned that the fluoride affects equipment adversely and that a small percentage of fluoride is in the water naturally. The possibility of having a public hearing and/or a public informational meeting, before the Common Council makes a decision on this was discussed. Such meeting(s) would allow the public to receive information and provide input on the issue. It was agreed that, if the Water and Sewer Committee recommended removing the fluoride, the earliest it would be considered by the Common Council would be at the August Common Council meeting on August 12. Alderman Mike Rick made a motion to recommend removing the fluoride from City water, the motion was seconded by Alderman Osness, and the motion was carried and sent to Council to be considered at the August 12 meeting.
During the public comment portion of the August 12 Common Council meeting, Karen Krueger spoke out against removing the fluoride from Merrill’s City water. When the Common Council considered the Water & Sewage Disposal Committee’s recommendation to remove the fluoride, Alderman Rick made a motion to go ahead with removing the fluoride from the City water and Alderman John Van Lieshout seconded the motion. However, at the point of discussions, Mayor Woellner requested this agenda item be referred back to the Water & Sewage Disposal Committee again. Alderman Steve Hass so motioned, with Alderman Mark Weix seconding that motion, which took precedence over the original motion. Therefore, the motion to refer the matter back to the Committee was voted on and approved.
The August 26, 2020, Water & Sewage Disposal Committee meeting was canceled, and this item did not appear on the Agenda for the committee’s September 30 meeting. The October 30 committee meeting was also canceled. No November Committee meeting was scheduled.
At the December 16, 2020, Water & Sewage Disposal Committee meeting, Alderman Osness, who had again placed this item on the Agenda, noted that the issue had been discussed at previous meetings. The Committee was now considering adding the fuoride issue to be a referendum question for the April elections or the next earliest election. Alderman Osness made a motion to prepare a referendum question on the potential removal of fluoride from City water and include the question as part of the next election possible, in accordance with deadlines specified in Wisconsin State Statues, and indicated a public hearing on the issue would also be scheduled as part of the process. Alderman Rick seconded the motion. The motion passed and was sent to Common Council again to be considered at their January 12, 2021, meeting.
At the January 12 Common Council meeting, “Brenda from Green Bay spoke on the Agenda item related to a potential referendum on fluoride removal” according to the meeting Minutes. When the Council reached the Agenda item related to adding fluoride to the referendum for April elections as approved by the Water & Sewage Disposal Committee, Alderman Osness made a motion to approve their recommendation, Alderman Van Lieshout seconded the motion, and the motion went to a roll call vote that resulted in a 4-4 tie. Voting Yes were Alderman Osness, Alderman Van Lieshout, Alderman Rick, and Alderman Sabatke. Mayor Woellner broke the tie by voting No. Therefore, the motion to approve failed.
Alderman Van Lieshout then made a motion to prepare and include a referendum question on this as part of the Spring Election to be held in April of 2022. Alderman Weix seconded that motion. However, Mayor Woellner then ruled that this motion was inappropriate at this time and would not be considered.
Alderman Van Lieshout then made a motion to refer the matter back to the Water & Sewage Disposal Committee. That motion failed because no one else seconded the motion.
In effect, at least at the time of writing this article, the fluoride issue appears to be “dead in the water,” or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, as of right now, fluoride will continue to be added to the City’s water.