The City of San Marcos has requested a Hays County District Court to review a petition submitted by Communities For Thriving Water – Fluoride Free San Marcos to determine if the petition’s form and content complies with the San Marcos City Charter and state law. The petition was delivered to City Clerk Jamie Lee Pettijohn on April 2, 2015 with 1,634 signatures. Ms. Pettijohn certified the petition to be invalid May 5, 2015. The City of San Marcos filed suit Tuesday questioning the validity of the petition on several grounds.
“The City recognizes how passionate the petition’s circulators and supporters have been about the fluoride issue, but it is just as important that the City have assurance that the methods used to circulate the petition and the content of the proposed amendment do not violate the law before taking further action,“ said San Marcos City Attorney Michael Cosentino.
The petition proposes that a single amendment to the city charter be presented to the voters in November. The charter amendment, if adopted, would prohibit the City of San Marcos from adding fluoride to the City’s water supply. It would also prohibit the City from accepting fluoridated water – containing any fluoride derivative – for use in the City’s water system. The City’s only raw water sources, surface water from Canyon Lake and ground water from Edwards Aquifer wells, contain naturally occurring fluoride. The proposed amendment would also prohibit the City from purchasing or installing fluoridation equipment in the future.
The petition’s circulators have requested that the proposed amendment be submitted as a single proposition. “If the petition is submitted in the form requested, it would force voters to decide all three issues by casting a single vote. Each issue has a different consequence and fiscal impact. This raises questions about the validity of the petition under state law that need to be addressed,” said Cosentino