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Petition process still underway
By Lisa Brichacek
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A brief update on the petition process was given at last week’s Wahoo City Council meeting. Mayor Jerry Johnson said he was told petitions were still being circulated to get the question of putting fluoride into the town’s water supply on the primary election ballot.
To make that happen, the deadline for getting the necessary 402 signatures is near. In order to get the names certified and the petitions into the council’s hand for placement on the May ballot, the petitions would have to be turned into the county clerk’s office this week.
If that deadline is missed, petitioners could continue to gather signatures up to March 11, which is the allowable six months after the petition process was started. Using that timeframe would not get it on the May ballot, but a special election could be held in June or July.
City officials have said they cannot wait any longer to get plans underway for fluoride treatment. By state statute, all cities with populations of more than 1,000 must begin fluoridation by June 1. Engineering for the systems design has been called for.
At last week’s meeting, a question arose about the state’s leniency should a fluoride vote be pending June 1. A city can opt out of fluoridation with a vote of the people. A 2008 vote on fluoride in Wahoo did not toss out the mandate, but petition organizers are saying the wording on that ballot question was confusing.
City Attorney Loren Lindahl said he could not find any penalty for not fluoridating written into the law. However, he said the law is quite clear that it is the city’s duty to fluoridate.
He said all it would take would be one complaint to drag the city into court.
“Any citizen could file that complaint,” Lindahl said. “The judge would take one look at the statute and say do it.”
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