USA: Richmond’s longtime water superintendent resigns after fluoride controversy

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USA: Richmond’s longtime water superintendent resigns after fluoride controversy

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NOTE: This man should be getting a hero's award for protecting the public's health.

Richmond’s longtime water superintendent resigns after fluoride controversy

VT Digger - October 19, 2022

By Auditi Guha

Richmond’s water and sewer superintendent resigned Monday following a recent revelation that he had reduced the fluoride level in the public water supply to less than half the recommended level for years.

In a letter to Town Manager Josh Arneson dated Oct. 17, Kendall Chamberlin wrote he was resigning that day because he opposed the town’s recent decision to increase the fluoride level to comply with the state Department of Health’s recommendation. Chamberlin wrote that he believes that the decision “poses unacceptable risks to public health.”

Chamberlin, who became superintendent in 1988 and also serves on the Essex Selectboard, declined to provide additional comment beyond his letter and a brief statement.

“I owed it to the customers of the Richmond Water System to make my position clear,” he told VTDigger on Wednesday. “I understand there are different opinions, and some of them are strongly held. I do not want to get dragged into a public debate about this.”

Chamberlin drew an annual salary of $96,737 and will receive $10,092 for unused time off, according to Arneson who confirmed Chamberlin’s resignation. In an email, Arneson said he was “not going to address the assertion (Chamberlin) did nothing wrong as we do not discuss personnel matters.”

Chamberlin initially defended his decision to lower the fluoride levels at a contentious Sept. 19 Water and Sewer Commission meeting but then offered his “sincerest apology to the citizens of Richmond” at the Oct. 3 meeting. The commission voted at that meeting to increase Richmond’s fluoride levels from 0.3 milligrams per liter to the recommended 0.7 milligrams.

In his resignation letter, Chamberlin once again defended his decision and noted that his license has been renewed for more than three decades with no suspensions or revocation and that he never received a negative evaluation of his job performance in Richmond.

READ: Resignation Letter
https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/ ... letter.pdf

SOURCE:
https://vtdigger.org/2022/10/19/richmon ... ntroversy/
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