Rolla residents will continue to have fluoride in their drinking water.
The Rolla City Council voted 10-1 Monday night to indefinitely postpone a measure that would end water fluoridation, removing it from consideration for the foreseeable future. The move ends an effort that started six months ago and saw a much different council vote on the matter than the one that proposed it.
Late last year, council members Robert Kessinger and Megan Johnson spearheaded an effort to consider removing fluoride from the city’s water. They cited a study that made a connection between fluoride levels at twice the recommended level and lower IQs in children.
After debates where local dentists made the case that fluoride in water was a crucial part of dental health and out-of-town opponents argued it was dangerous, the council voted 6-5 to start a public comment period before considering eliminating fluoride.
The city received 157 emails in favor of water fluoridation and seven in opposition.
“We know that that is not an accurate vote of the citizens, but it was the mechanism we used to encourage people to reach out on both sides of the issue,” said City Manager John Butz before Monday night’s vote.
Kessigner did not run for another term, and Johnson was defeated in her reelection bid in April. Those developments, plus two other more progressive candidates winning election to the council, were part of the change of course.
“I’m really disappointed,” said Tina Balch, the lone council member who voted to keep the measure under consideration. “I had hoped to see more of those who wanted to remove fluoride respond.”
Florida and Utah recently enacted statewide bans of water fluoridation. In Missouri, Hannibal has proposed a ban, and Houston and Branson removed it in recent years.
