Joshua Paladino and his family. Courtesy | Facebook

Fluoride remains in the city’s water, months after Acting Mayor Joshua Paladino ’18 said removing it was his top priority. 

“I asked the city manager to research it and bring forward a resolution, to at least give the city council an opportunity to vote on whether we should continue to fluoridate the public water supply,” Paladino said. “But nothing has come of it yet.”

Paladino said he is debating with the city council on whether removing fluoride from the water is legally possible.

“I don’t think there’s any sort of legal prohibition on us doing it. It’s just that the city staff hasn’t acted,” Paladino said. “They’re just sort of saying, ‘Well, we don’t know if we can do that. We don’t know what the ramifications are.’ But as far as I’ve found, it’s totally up to the municipality. There’s no state or federal requirement to fluoridate the water.”

David Mackie, Hillsdale’s city manager, said in an email that he currently has no plans to bring forward a resolution and will not do so until notified by the council.

“There has been no further discussion of this matter at city council, nor has council directed staff to pursue any action,” Mackie said. “Because fluoridation is a public health issue, staff would not make any changes, under any circumstances, without explicit direction from the council.”

Mackie said the council-manager form of government in the city charter does not allow him to take direction from individual members of the council like Paladino. 

Gary Wolfram, Ward 3 councilman and professor of economics and public policy at Hillsdale College, said in an email that the city council has yet to have the issue of fluoride in water on its agenda.

“The idea of removing fluoride from the city’s water has not been discussed by the city council as far as I know,” Wolfram said.

Mackie said the act of removing fluoride from the city’s water would require significant upfront adjustments to the water system and management but could potentially save the city money in the long term.

“These include modifying how the water is treated, removing or reconfiguring equipment currently used to feed fluoride, updating monitoring and reporting protocols, and providing additional staff training,” Mackie said. “At present, the city does not have a water or wastewater superintendent, and given that vacancy alongside the workload already being managed by existing staff, this is something that, while technically feasible, should be planned well in advance of implementation.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fluoride in drinking water reduces cavities by more than 25% in children and adults. Paladino is among the government officials pushing back against this recommendation, such as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who said he planned to tell the CDC to stop recommending fluoridated water.

A study published earlier this year found evidence that fluoride levels higher than 1.5 milligrams per liter can reduce IQ scores in children, but the evidence was not conclusive enough to find harmful effects at less than 1.5 milligrams per liter. The level recommended by the CDC is 0.7 milligrams per liter.

According to the 2024 water quality report completed by Hillsdale’s Board of Public Utilities, Hillsdale’s city water currently contains 0.62 parts per million of fluoride, lower than the CDC-recommended level. 

Paladino said fluoride is no longer needed in city water in the 21st century.

“There’s so many available resources to titrate your own fluoride usage if you so desire, mouthwash, toothpaste, you can even add it to your own drinking water, so there’s no reason to have this mass fluoridation,” Paladino said. “But also, there’s evidence now that the levels used are not safe for a whole population. You’re using a standard amount that might not be safe for babies or children or pregnant women or very old, even if it is safe for the average healthy member of the population.”

Paladino said if no more action is taken toward the issue, he will bring it to a vote before the end of his term.

“I think basically the situation is that the city staff doesn’t care or doesn’t want to do this, and so it’s probably not going to get done,” Paladino said. “The problem is that if I bring forward the resolution, it’s almost certain to get voted down by the council, because every time I try to do something on my own initiative, they say that I’m going out of the standard order procedure, and usually reject it. If it doesn’t get done before November, I’ll at least bring it forward for a vote, and if that fails, it’s OK.”

Wolfram said if the issue was brought up in the city council, he would likely oppose it.

“I am certainly not an expert on the issue and do not have a strong opinion. However, I believe the benefits of fluoride in the water outweigh the costs,” Wolfram said.

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