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Pasco council directs staff to refine outreach plan as city weighs ending water fluoridation
Summary
At a June 23 workshop the Pasco City Council reviewed a communications plan and timeline for a possible discontinuation of fluoride in the city's drinking water, directing staff to incorporate multiple outreach channels and to work backward from a decision date while noting a 90-day public-notice requirement under state rules.
Interim City Manager Zabel told the City of Pasco City Council on June 23 that a communications plan has been drafted to accompany council's prior direction to consider discontinuing fluoride in the city's drinking water and that a final decision would require 90 days' public notice under WAC 246-290-460.
The communications plan described multiple outreach methods including television, radio, social media, bill insert messages, mailers and recorded phone messages; staff also noted the need to reach residents who do not receive utility bills directly such as tenants in master-metered apartment complexes. "That decision to'to discontinue'needs to be preceded by 90 days of notice to the public," Zabel said, summarizing the regulatory timeline.
Councilmembers debated how to run outreach and whether to hold dedicated public meetings. Councilmember Grimm favored online surveys, social media and two public meetings. Mayor Pro Tem said the staff report should be reviewed for neutral wording and not appear to favor one side, stating, "I would be more in favor if'the information to be as neutral as possible." Councilmember Harpster said the timeline in the staff report could put a decision point in late September or early October and expressed reluctance to create separate meetings unless the item overtook regular business; councilmembers generally supported multiple outreach channels including email and Spanish-language materials.
Councilmember Abel emphasized verifying residency in any online survey to focus input from Pasco constituents: "we need to make sure that we somehow capture the data of who's a resident, who's not." Members noted practical trade-offs among outreach tools: bill insert timing is constrained by billing cycles, recorded phone messages reach all utility account holders simultaneously but are more expensive, and mailers or bill messages may take longer to accomplish uniform notice.
No formal motion or vote was taken. Council consensus included direction for staff to refine the communications plan, include Spanish-language outreach, and incorporate recorded phone messages as a deliverable; staff was instructed to build a schedule working backward from the Council's target decision date and to propose public meeting formats and dates. Zabel said staff would return with timing options once Council clarified when it wanted a decision point.
