BETHEL — Two weeks after a Bethel business owner requested 45 minutes of time during a May 11 public hearing to give information on fluoride in the town’s water, the Board of Selectmen said Monday they would schedule a separate informational session for her to present her data.
The town has added fluoride to the water supply since 1970.
Bethel business owner Sarah Lane brought evidence of health risks before the selectmen and asked for them to organize a town vote on whether to stop using it in the drinking water.
Lane, who is not a resident of Bethel, said there is evidence of fluoride being linked to brain damage.
Following an August 2014 public hearing at which residents gave their opinions on the issue, the selectmen voted to postpone a special referendum town meeting scheduled for Sept. 8, 2014, and schedule it for June 9, 2015, a day before the town’s annual town meeting.
The selectmen later scheduled a public hearing on May 11 for residents to voice their opinion on the issue.
Town Manager Christine Landes said she was concerned about having a 45-minute public hearing.
“The board offered the option for her to have some sort of informational session, where she can bring people to speak and present her information,” Landes said. “The board said they would let her use the meeting room for the meeting.”
Landes said that Lane was going to contact the town after she had made a decision regarding the informational session.
In other business, the Board of Selectmen asked Landes to draft a cost-benefit analysis of tying the Bethel Citizen office into the town office’s heating system.
Both the Bethel Citizen and the Bethel Town Office occupy the same building.
Landes said that the Bethel Citizen office currently operates on oil, while the town office operates on a pellet heater.
“I have one quote right now for a pellet connection, but I still have to look into what the price of keeping an oil tank at the Bethel Citizen would be in lieu of connecting it to our system,” Landes said.
The selectmen also appointed Kevin Windsor and Brendon Bass to the town’s Conservation Commission.
Windsor and Bass were the only two applicants to the Conservation Commission, Landes said.
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