Madison’s water authority will proceed with its contentious decision to stop adding fluoride to the water it sells to over 19,000 customers.

The decision came after Connie Spears, the Madison City councilor who sits on the Madison Utilities board, unsuccessfully pushed the board to reconsider its March 17 vote to stop fluoridating the drinking water. Spears said she had received 160 emails on the issue – with 79% of them requesting the utility maintain fluoridation.

Spears’ motion to rescind the March vote failed without a second. She then moved to pause the end of fluoridation to allow for more study, to “get additional answers for questions that I requested that were not answered [in a May 13 meeting], and to calculate the rate implications for all of our customers.”

Board Chairman Terris Tatum and Spears voted in favor, with members Kerry Straub, Larry Miles and Al Sullivan voting against.

Monday’s meeting stood in stark contrast to two previous water board meetings and a city council session that all drew dozens of speakers, most of them opposed to fluoride removal. Seven residents attended and five addressed the board before it voted – all of them requested the members to reconsider.

Several in attendance later expressed dissatisfaction with the process, pointing to the preponderance of pro-fluoridation voices over the three meetings.

“Chairman Tatum invited us to take part [in the meetings], and yet here’s a case where 70% of the population says they want fluoridation, but they’re not listening to us,” Madison resident Michael Goodman said. “He’s asking the public to be present at the meetings and be involved, and he’s heard that 70% of the people want fluoridation.”

Monday’s vote means the utility will stop adding fluoride June 16. Fluoride is a chemical that U.S. public health officials have recommended including in public drinking water since the 1940s to combat tooth decay, particularly in children. Madison has fluoridated since 1991.

Alabama has seen more water utilities stop fluoridating in recent years, according to AL.com. Madison will become the state’s only Big 10 city, though, to halt the practice.

Health officials have said many objections to fluoridation are based on poor science or upon studies of conditions that do not match those in U.S. water supplies.

Jim Hatcher, a longtime dentist in Madison, called on the board Monday to revote the decision. He criticized the members for seeking public comment months after the March 17 decision

At a marathon public meeting last week, “it felt like you were just trying to check a box by having public comment,” he said. “A revote now would go a long way to restoring the integrity of the board.”

Hatcher made reference to the arguments of fluoridation supporters at the previous three meetings. Many have pointed to concerns that poorer children will not receive adequate dental care, leading to more cavities and more time lost from school. Others have accused the board of making decisions without sufficient public input and of giving opaque explanations for the policy change.

“You may care more now that most Madison residents want this,” Hatcher said. “You may care more that without optimally fluoridated water, some folks may not want to move to Madison, thus affecting property values.”

In an April appearance before Madison City Council, water manager David Moore said the decision “was made based upon structural problems, degradation, it was made on employee health concerns.”

Yet last week, utility officials said they put great emphasis on “a national conversation” surrounding fluoridation led by people like Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has suggested the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stop recommending fluoride be added to public water supplies.