New fluoride law forces city to change direction — Delray Beach City Manager Terrence Moore told city commissioners at their May 20 meeting that the city is preparing to halt the fluoridation of its water supply by July 1 following Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signing of a bill prohibiting the additive.
The Florida Legislature passed SB 700 after the DeSantis administration used data that it said showed an impact on cognitive function for children who drank water with fluoride. Those studies, however, were from India, where the concentration of fluoride was much higher than that used in the United States.
DeSantis dispatched Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo to try to convince municipalities to ban fluoride earlier this year. But after hearing from dentists in February, the Delray Beach City Commission voted 3-2 to continue the practice of adding fluoride to the city’s water supply.
However, with the new law, the state has preempted self-rule for municipalities on the issue, joining Utah in banning the additive.
Moore told commissioners the city will save $100,000 in capital equipment costs related to fluoride treatment and another $100,000 in annual cost savings.
Proponents of fluoridation of the public water supply — a decades-long practice — have long argued that fluoride helps prevent tooth decay.
New driver’s license policy emerges after train-fire truck collision — One of the consequences of a Delray Beach fire truck’s collision with a Brightline train on Dec. 28 was the revelation that 10 of the city’s Fire Rescue employees had allowed their driver’s licenses to lapse in recent years.
Under a new policy, employees who operate city vehicles or receive car allowances must sign a consent form for continuous license monitoring, City Manager Terrence Moore told the City Commission in his May 15 information letter. Human Resources will be responsible for maintaining and supporting all related sensitive information.
The firefighter at the wheel of the December crash — David Wyatt — had his license suspended for a period in 2023 when he failed to attend a mandated class after he ran his vehicle into a tree on an Atlantic Avenue median.
In the train crash, Brightline video shows the aerial fire truck Wyatt was driving going around lowered train crossing gates before being struck. Wyatt has since been fired.
The suspended driver’s licenses among Fire Rescue employees led briefly to the paid suspensions of Assistant Chief Kevin Green and Division Chief Todd Lynch before an independent investigation found that city policy was really to blame.
— John Pacenti
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