FARMINGTON — Davis County has agreed to pay $214,000 to settle a long-running lawsuit concerning fluoridation of drinking water.
Davis County commissioners begrudgingly voted Tuesday to approve a settlement with David Irvine and Janet Jensen, attorneys who represented Utahns for Better Dental Health, a pro-fluoride group that urged the passage of a 2000 ballot measure that allowed fluoridation of drinking water.
The group then sued Davis County when the county decided to allow a revote on the issue in 2002.
Through legal action earlier in the decade, Utahns for Better Dental Health delayed the revote on the issue until 2004, when a fluoridation measure passed again.
After the lawsuit was decided, Irvine and Jensen sued Davis County to receive legal fees. Appeals eventually landed before the Utah Supreme Court, which awarded the fees to Irvine and Jensen in December 2007.
Davis County disagreed with the amount Irvine and Jensen were seeking: $235,101.
During Tuesday's commission meeting, Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings called that number "ridiculous" and "exorbitant."
After the county attorney's office reviewed billing receipts for Irvine and Jensen, they negotiated a reduction to $214,028, said deputy county attorney Craig Bott.
"We do not appreciate where we are at," Rawlings told commissioners before the vote.
Commissioners had two choices, he said. They could continue litigating, which could end up costing taxpayers even more money, or they could settle and end the litigation.
And that's what commissioners did.
"There are things we have to do in life that are unfortunate," said Commissioner John Petroff Jr. "I don't believe this is right. But we have to get this over with."
Steve Rawlings, Davis County clerk/auditor, said the county will most likely pay for the settlement out of reserve funds and will then try to find a way to make up those funds.
Once commissioners voted and the settlement agreement was signed, a gag order on the two parties was put in place.
Irvine was out of the country Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.
"I am so glad that this is finally over," Jensen said, adding that she wouldn't comment on the settlement issues. "I'm happy they agreed to enforce the settlement."
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