PORT ANGELES — Completed fluoride advisory surveys must be postmarked or dropped into a Port Angeles drop box by 5 p.m. Friday.
The advisory poll asks water customers if the city should continue fluoridating the water system past May 18.
The issue has been contentious, with proponents saying adding fluorosilicic acid to the water supply cuts the incidence of cavities while opponents equate fluoridating with forced medication, saying it can cause health problems.
The surveys were mailed to 9,669 municipal water customers on Nov. 6. Each includes a postage-paid envelope that must be used for the response to be valid.
Completed surveys must be deposited in the drop box at 321 E. Fifth St. or postmarked by that date.
The destination for mailed surveys will be a Port Angeles Post Office box.
Despite the deadline, the surveys won’t be picked up from the post office and from the drop box until Dec. 7, with results available by Dec. 10.
The surveys will be counted at the Clallam County Courthouse. Former auditor Patty Rosand will count the surveys responses and deliver the results to Mayor Dan Di Guilio.
Rosand estimates the count will take at least three days, said city Administrative Assistant Kari Martinez-Bailey.
Martinez-Bailey, the public contact person for questions about the survey, has said that the elections office at the county courthouse will be tabulated will not be available until Dec. 7.
She said city officials had hoped to begin the tabulation earlier but they also didn’t want to count the responses at City Hall.
City Council members will get the survey results by Dec. 10, Martinez-Bailey said, and will discuss them during their meeting that will begin at 6 p.m. Dec. 15 at City Hall.
The council must make a decision by May 18.
After that date a 10-year pledge with the Washington Dental Service Foundation to fluoridate drinking water expires.
The survey includes the survey question, an explanatory statement, 250-word statements written by committees for and against fluoridation, and rebuttals by each committee of the other side’s assertions.
It was mailed to 8,105 water customers in Port Angeles and 1,564 in an area of the Clallam Public Utility District east of the city limits who drink city water.
Those who not billed for water, such as some renters, are not receiving surveys.
Fluoridation of city water began in 2006 with financial assistance from the foundation.
It is funded by Delta Dental of Washington, a nonprofit insurance company.
Fluoridation opponents were victorious by a wide margin in a 1975 advisory ballot election in Port Angeles.
The Port Angeles City Council initially sought to have an advisory measure on the Nov. 3 general election ballot this year, but opted for the survey instead after the Clallam County Auditor said it could not logistically include the PUD customers in the ballot.
The city held a forum on the issue in October.
Longtime anti-fluoridation activist Dr. Eloise Kailin headed a committee opposing fluoridation and Dr. Tom Locke, the public health officer for Jefferson County, headed a committee supporting it.
An advisory vote in Sequim in 2003 showed most were opposed and the Sequim City Council voted 5-1 against it.
Forks is the only other city on the North Olympic Peninsula that fluoridates its water. It has done so since 1956.
Rosand will be paid $37.23 an hour based on her former salary as county auditor on a per-diem basis up to 50 hours for a maximum of $1,861.
Martinez-Bailey said committees for and against fluoridation can each have one observer monitor the vote count.
The PUD is paying a percentage of the cost of the survey.
Bailey is available to answer questions at 360-417-4500.
City water users who live in the county PUD should call 360-565-3577 with questions.
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Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at lleach@peninsuladailynews.com.
Senior Reporter Paul Gottlieb contributed to this story.
