By Richard Mundy
For Hometown News
Ormond Beach is known as "The Birthplace of Speed" and the pace with which the City Commissioners handled the agenda at the latest meeting would have made Smokey Yunich proud. That is until they got to the last item on the agenda, the continuing debate about the fluoridation of the drinking water supply.
Of course, the first item was easy - proclamation read by Mayor Ed Kelley proclaiming Oct. 24 as City of Ormond Beach Employee Appreciation Day.
A resolution passed naming the T-Ball fields at the Ormond Beach Sports Complex the "Doug Wigley T-Ball Fields."
Commissioner Rick Boehm praised the untiring and unselfish devotion to the the sports field and acknowledgement that Mr. Wigley had "dedicated his life to the children of Ormond Beach."
Mayor Ed Kelley added he had known Mr. Wigley for 37 years and "he took an organization that was without funding and was able to get contributions of $40,000 for the T-Ball field. I can't think of anyone better for this honor than Doug Wigley for what he's done for this community."
Lastly, the commissioners debated whether to send a letter to the Harcros Chemical Co. and create a Water Additive Accountability Ordinance. The letter would ask the chemical supplier if it would take responsibility if anything bad happened from use of the fluoridated water.
The majority of the commissioners decided to drop plans to solicit a "hold harmless" statement from the chemical company as an unrealistic expectation and decided to take steps to have a citizen's referendum to allow the public to vote on whether to continue fluoridation of the drinking supply or not. The second part of the discussion was also dropped.