PORT ANGELES — The City Council elected Patrick Downie as mayor Tuesday and Cherie Kidd as deputy mayor through 2017 on 4-3 votes.
Downie, Kidd and council members Dan Gase and Brad Collins voted for Downie, the sitting deputy mayor, over Sissi Bruch.
The same four council members voted for Kidd, a former mayor, again over Sissi Bruch.
The votes were greeted with boos and derisive shouting from packed City Hall chambers filled with foes of city water fluoridation.
Downie, Kidd, Gase and Collins were the majority in a Dec. 15 council decision to continue fluoridating the city’s water through June 30, 2026.
Bruch joined council members Lee Whetham and then-council member and Mayor Dan Di Guilio in voting against fluoridating the city’s municipal water supply.
The city’s 10-year fluoridation contract with the Washington Dental Service Foundation ends May 18.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
