PORT ANGELES — The legal challenge of the city’s proposed water fluoridation project is set for an Oct. 7 showdown in Port Townsend before Jefferson County Judge Craddock Verser.
The hearing won’t include new evidence or witnesses, just legal briefs from both sides and a review of the previous legal record of the case, City Attorney Bill Bloor said.
“We’ll both write briefs and give them to judge. Then there will be a short hearing, about 45 minutes.
“Then judge will read all that, consider it and make a decision,” he said.
The lawsuit was filed in April in Clallam County Superior Court against the city of Port Angeles and Washington Dental Services Foundation, which awarded the city a $260,000 grant to fluoridate its water supply and educate the public about the tooth decay prevention attributes of fluoridation.
The suit was filed by the groups Clallam County Citizens for Safe Drinking Water and Protect the Peninsula’s Future, and retired Blyn physician Eloise Kailin.
Assigned to case
Verser was assigned to the case after Clallam County Judge George Wood recused himself.
The other Clallam County Superior Court judge, Ken Williams, was removed from hearing the case following an objection by Clallam County Citizens for Safe Drinking Water and the two other petitioners.
Bloor said no injunction was issued to stop the fluoridation project, so work can continue while the legal issues are being resolved.
The Washington Dental Services Foundation is designing and building the project, then donating it to the city.
There’s nothing for the city to do until the plant is built and the foundation hands city officials the keys to it, Bloor said.
