Bartlesville council awards water-materials and chemical bids while residents press pause on fluoride

The Bartlesville City Council voted July 7 to award annual purchase contracts for water distribution and wastewater materials and to award the city—s water-treatment-chemical contracts for the coming fiscal year, while a string of public commenters urged officials to suspend the city—s fluoridation practice pending further review.

The council approved staff recommendations to award the water and wastewater materials bid (Bid No. 2024-2026-001) to multiple vendors as listed in the city—s bid tabulation. The council also approved the award of water-treatment-chemical contracts (Bid No. 2024-2026-002) to several vendors and a dual award for two chemistry items to allow testing of a new supplier—s product before committing for the full year. Councilman East presented both items; staff recommended the awards after tabulating bids from multiple vendors.

Why it matters: The purchases fund routine repairs and treatment operations that keep the city—s distribution and treatment systems running. The city budgeted $470,000 for water distribution materials and $1,184,375 for water treatment chemicals; staff said the chemical bids totalled about $1,191,907, slightly over the operating budget estimate but that available reserves and conservative quantity estimates should cover the difference.

City staff and council members addressed questions about fluoridation during the water-chemicals discussion. Several public speakers during the earlier comment period asked the council to pause fluoridation, citing recent state-level developments and national studies they said raise health concerns. City Water Treatment staff explained the municipal dosing practice, monitoring and safety measures. Terry (city water staff) said the plant doses at about 0.7 parts per million and that automated and manual checks are run hourly or every two hours; he described alarms, an on-site storage buffer and the ability to drain tanks if a dosing anomaly is detected.

State-level context was raised repeatedly. Council members and staff described Governor Kevin Stitt—s July executive order directing the Oklahoma Department of Health to review its fluoridation recommendation; staff said that order begins a roughly 90-day review and that, under the current framework, local governments retain authority over adding fluoride. Council members said they intended to wait for the state review and more technical information before considering changes to municipal policy or ordinance language.

Quotations: "We dose at 0.7 [parts per million], which is in accordance with numerous recommendations for all the major health organizations," Terry said. "We test our water, really every hour, for certain benchmarks. Fluoride is one of those." Resident Siobhan Robles asked the council to "pause" and hold a public dialogue so "the public deserves just a little bit of clarity." Sarah Burnett and other residents cited federal and academic studies and urged suspension of fluoridation.

Council action and next steps: Council members approved the staff-recommended bid awards for materials and chemicals. Several council members said they were open to scheduling a workshop or receiving additional reports on fluoridation and on updating city codified language that still references older terminology and dosing limits. Staff recommended waiting for the state Department of Health—s finding from the governor—s directed review before proposing ordinance changes.

Ending: The council—s awards keep the water utility supplied for the coming year; the fluoride issue remained under consideration, with council members requesting more data and a potential future workshop before taking policy action.