| Author
|
Post |
 
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Two Flint City Council members call for removal of Eric Mays
By Matthew Witkos | Posted: Thu 11:25 PM, Nov 08, 2018 | Updated: Fri 5:50 AM, Nov 09, 2018
FLINT (WJRT) - (11/8/2018) - Two council members are accusing a colleague of trying to silence them.
Council members Kate Fields from the 4th Ward and Eva Worthing from the 9th Ward are asking for 1st Ward Council Member Eric Mays to be removed. They're accusing him of abusing his power over them.
"You have a choice to accept the abuse or stand up for yourself,” Fields said during a hastily called press conference in the council chambers on Thursday.
They say the treatment from their colleague Mays is reaching a breaking point.
"We are asking you city residents and our constituents to stand up with us and demand this behavior be stopped,” Worthing said.
After the two finished addressing the media and asked for Mays be removed as chair of the finance committee, Mays took to the podium.
"When they go low I go low with them and sometimes lower,” Mays said.
The press conference comes after Mays presided over an investigative hearing to see how state money earmarked for the Flint water crisis is going in and out of the city.
Fields and Worthing say moments during that meeting have pushed them to believe he's incompetent for the position of chairman.
"But he also engages in harassment via intimidation and threats, racial slurs and shouts and cowers over us in a threatening manner,” Worthing said.
Mays said Thursday's press conference was a political move by the two members.
The council is scheduled for Monday to vote on a new president and vice president. Herbert serves as the council president and Monica Galloway is vice president.
If Mays continues to chair on the finance committee, Worthing and Fields say they may seek a no-confidence vote. |
|
|
Mon Nov 12, 2018 6:11 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Mays responded by saying he's had issues with Fields and Worthing.
"I could have said you are a racist white lady, but I didn't do that. So, I went high. I have used every type of tack with these two. These two are a handful, and we will handle it,” Mays said.
Who is the "we" that Mays is referencing? |
|
|
|
Mon Nov 12, 2018 6:13 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Mays has promised revenge tomorrow in a very lengthy diatribe on Facebook.
Mays and Former councilman Ed Taylor orchestrated a special order in which they manipulated to falsely accuse City Administrator Peggy Cook of asking for a kickback. The Sheriff Investigation proved the allegations were made up. I remember the contractor asking me several times if he had to pay to get a contract and Peggy and I both informed him that was not true. I attended many Minority Contractors meetings at Matt Taylor's home and contractors were frustrated at being unable to get contracts. Also, Williamson had to send police out to some polling stations where Mays and his cohorts were threatening voters.
Once again Mays is playing the race card.
I agree with Bobby Johnson about the females needing legal help. They certainly won't get it from the City Attorney. Former councilman Kerry Nelson filed a PPO (inappropriately removed by County Clerk's staff) and it was granted. Mays threatened Nelson after Nelson refused to renew a liquor license for the Riviera Party Store until they cleaned up the property and got rid of the drug dealers out front of the store. Mays had a contract to lobby for them. Mays then went to the bank where Nelson worked and was so overbearing he had the police called on him.
Last edited by untanglingwebs on Thu Nov 29, 2018 11:27 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
|
|
Mon Nov 12, 2018 6:17 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Flint council keeps president, VP, residents voice concern over bickering
Updated Nov 13; Posted Nov 13
shares
By Zahra Ahmad zahmad@mlive.com
FLINT, MI-- City Council voted to keep the same president and vice president at a Nov. 12 general meeting.
Sixth Ward Councilman Herb Winfrey was re-elected president and 7th Ward Councilwoman Monica Galloway was re-elected vice president of council.
The vote for Winfrey was 5-4. Second Ward Councilman Maurice Davis dissented and voted for 1st Ward Councilman Eric Mays and 8th Ward Councilman Allan Griggs and 9th Ward Councilwoman Eva Worth voted for 4th Ward Councilwoman Kate Fields. Fields also voted for herself.
The vote for Galloway was 6-3. Davis voted for Mays, and Griggs and Worthing voted for Fields.
Officers for council committee will be picked after one-on-one interviews with the president, Winfrey said.
Two Flint City Council members called for the removal of the finance committee chair at a Thursday, Nov. 8 press conference at City Hall.
Following elections, city council voted 9-0 to approve Mott Community College's Culinary School liquor license.
MCC President Beverly Walker-Griffea announced the plan to move the college's culinary arts institute to a vacant, 36,000-square-foot building at 550 S. Saginaw St. downtown in July 2017.
"I supported it from the beginning and I'm going to continue to support it," Mays said.
The culinary institute would be located in the 5th Ward, Councilwoman Jerri Winfrey-Carter's ward.
"I fully support what you're trying to do and I can't wait for it to be finished," Winfrey-Carter said.
After the liquor license was approved, public comment commenced and residents took the mic to express how frustrated they are with council's bickering each meeting.
"Personal feelings shouldn't stop a city from moving forward," resident Gina Luster said. "I stopped coming to city council meetings because of all the chaos. It's not worth it."
When resident Linda Pohly took the mic she expressed concern over the lack of hiring an ombudsperson and funding for the city's Ethics and Accountability Board.
Pohly also requested that city council vote on and pass a resolution that requires Flint to use the predictive model researchers created to find lead service lines.
"We looked in areas that weren't primarily lead and didn't look in the areas that are primarily lead," Pholy said. "I request that council adopt a resolution that says we pay attention to a scientific model and focus our efforts on areas where there is a lot of lead." |
|
|
|
Thu Nov 15, 2018 11:01 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
|
|
Thu Nov 15, 2018 11:07 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Flint loses focus in finding lead water service pipes
Updated Nov 5; Posted Oct 18
By Zahra Ahmad zahmad@mlive.com
FLINT, MI -- The city of Flint's ban on a cost-effective tool and its method for finding lead water service pipes may mean it could run out of money before all its hazardous pipes are removed.
The price of digging up and burying a copper pipe increased from $285 to $3,513 after changes were made to the FAST Start replacement program in June. As a result, the city will pay millions of dollars in settlement funds reburying thousands of copper pipes.
In 2017, the city was given $97 million in a settlement after social groups like the Concerned Pastors for Social Change and the Natural Resources Defense Council demanded enough funding to replace the estimated 18,000 hazardous lead and galvanized steel pipes in Flint.
"The city's illogical approach means that hundreds of lead and steel pipes will likely stay in the ground and in use, and Flint families will remain in harm's way in the meantime," said Cyndi Roper from the NRDC.
Rather than checking homes documented to have hazardous pipes first, the city wants to dig up pipes at all 25,800 homes with active water accounts at its own pace.
The city referred all questions about its methods to AECOM, a Los Angeles-based engineering firm contracted for $5 million to oversee FAST Start.
Alan Wong, Flint program manager for AECOM, testified the city doesn't prioritize which homes are assigned to water piper replacement contractors at a Aug. 21 U.S. District Court hearing.
The city's current method for finding hazardous pipes caused social groups to seek a court order to enforce the settlement's central agreement -- prioritizing the removal of lead pipes. The court hasn't ruled on the request.
With no state bottled water, Flint pipe replacement starts with new urgency
Factors like a list of homes with active water accounts, maps and historic water cards are used to assign 3,000 homes to each pipe-replacement contractor, Wong stated.
Over 140,000 historic water cards were discovered two years ago and over 95,000 of them were digitized free of charge by Captricity, a paper-to-digital processing company.
According to a city press release, of the 7,060 homes checked this year, 79 percent had pipes made of copper. The city will pay $19.4 million for digging up those copper pipes and reburying them.
A statistical analysis submitted to the court shows this year's method finds lead at a worse rate than randomly picking a home for the work. The current method's 21 percent success rate for finding lead contrasts with last year's success rate of 80 percent.
Last year, FAST Start was able to replace about 6,200 hazardous water pipes and check over 8,000 homes. This was done by utilizing a computer model built by researchers to plan which homes had a higher risk of having lead pipes and should be checked first.
The model estimates that more than half of the remaining 9,157 digs required by the settlement will uncover hazardous pipes.
AECOM isn't using the computer model to find these lead or steel pipes because the model has a 94 percent success rate, Wong said.
This heat map was made by researchers Jacob Abernethy and Eric Schwartz using their predictive model to identify service lines. The blue represents areas predicted to have copper, or safe lines, the red predicts areas that have lead or galvanized lines and the black is where AECOM has dug up pipes in 2018.
Finding lead
In 2016, retired Michigan National Guard Gen. Michael McDaniel was assigned to manage FAST Start and the city was mandated to find and replace all its lead or galvanized water service pipes.
It was a daunting task because funding or a reliable record of the city's water system wasn't available, McDaniel said.
"It was like looking for a black cat, in a dark room, in the middle of the night," McDaniel said. "Where do we start?"
After learning about Flint's problem, researchers Eric Schwartz from the University of Michigan and Jacob Abernethy from Georgia Tech worked free of charge and built a computer model that predicts what materials a home's water service pipes are made of.
"This was a laser beam of light pointing us in the right direction and it's proved to be true," McDaniel said.
Flint Water: Data Science Helps Find Lead Pipes
The computer model uses data from the historic water cards, a home's age, value, GPS coordinates, Census data, the data from last year's replacements and data from any water testing that occurred at a home, to predict if a home has hazardous pipes.
"The model was getting better as we put more data into it," McDaniel said. "We were able to construct a map showing where we've replaced service lines and where we should go next."
Had the city used the computer model from the start, it could have saved $10 million in unnecessary costs, according to a paper the researchers published.
Using a cost analysis the city submitted to the court, it is estimated for every $10 million saved, some 2,000 homes could have their lead pipes replaced.
The computer model was utilized for planning which homes to check and a hydrovac was used to confirm and dig up hazardous pipes.
A hydrovac uses a high-pressure water and vacuum system to dig a hole. It's the cost-effective tool Mayor Karen Weaver banned contractors from using in June.
Losing ground
The ban was made shortly after Weaver expressed concern at a Flint Water Interagency Coordinating Committee meeting that a hydrovac might miss spliced lines. So far, contractors have found seven spliced lines.
A spliced line is a lead or steel pipe that leaked and was patched using a "copper band-aid." According to the city, the only way to be sure a spliced line isn't missed is by digging 8 to 10-foot wide holes uncovering the pipe.
But hydrovacing is just another means of digging that hole, said Goyette Mechanical project manager Joe Parks. Goyette is one of five companies contracted with the city to replace service water pipes.
"We're digging the same hole whether it's with a hydrovac or a backhoe," Parks said.
The only difference in using a hydrovac is that it cuts the cost of digging significantly. That difference in cost can't be disputed, Wong said.
Lead Costs Breakout_UPDATE (002).png
The most efficient method of digging up pipes is a combination of shovels, backhoes and the hydrovacs, Parks said.
"When you take away a tool from us that we planned on utilizing, it slows us down and makes the job more dangerous and expensive," he said.
The company centered its bid around the hydrovac and didn't expect to be forced to work without it, Parks said.
In a cost change sent to the city, Goyette estimates it'll incur $500,000 in extra costs by the end of the project if the ban on hydrovacing isn't lifted. So far, the city hasn't agreed to pay the company the extra costs.
Spending time in the wrong places
Researchers say the city should prioritize homes that are historically known and statistically estimated to have hazardous pipes.
"You shouldn't spend most of your time on homes that have a 10 percent chance of having a lead line because we know there are other homes remaining that have a 90 percent chance," Abernethy said.
Brenda Cristi's house on Craig Drive is in the 4th Ward, a ward predicted to have the least amount of lead or steel pipes. Only 17 of the 702 pipes dug up in this ward were found to be hazardous.
Without warning, Cristi said, all the homes on her street had their pipes dug up in August. Cristi was surprised at the urgency in digging up her neighborhood. She said her pipes are safe because she had her water tested and never had issues during the Flint Water Crisis.
In the 5th Ward, the ward estimated to have the most hazardous lines, only 163 homes have had their pipes checked. Nine out of ten homes checked had lead or steel pipes.
"My biggest concern is the residents of Flint deserve the best possible effort and use of taxpayer, city, state and federal funds," Schwartz said. "They deserve to know the most accurate and credible information about the replacement of these lines."
Wrapping up the year
The city set a goal to find and replace the estimated 18,000 lead or steel water service pipes by 2020.
As of October, the city has checked 15,893 homes and nearly half of them were found to have copper water service pipes. This year's replacements account for 76 percent of all the copper pipes that have been dug up and reburied.
At the rate the city is finding and replacing hazardous pipes, only 1,280 of the 4,800 lead or steel pipes estimated to be underground will be removed.
This has left some plaintiffs in the settlement concerned there isn't enough urgency from the city to find these hazardous pipes.
"You know something is seriously wrong when digging up service lines randomly would find more lead pipes than the city's current approach," Melissa Mays, co-founder of Water You Fighting For and a plaintiff in the settlement said. "The people of Flint deserve better. |
|
|
|
Thu Nov 15, 2018 11:15 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Flint Council wants to see invoices from city to state for water line work
Updated Nov 8; Posted Nov 8
(Zahra Ahmad | MLive)
By Zahra Ahmad zahmad@mlive.com
FLINT, MI - The Flint City Council wants to review city invoices sent to the state for work done in Phase 5 of water service line replacements. The invoices were requested by the council at a Wednesday, Nov. 7 "investigative" hearing.
The hearing, chaired by 1st Ward Councilman Eric Mays, was held to understand how state funds are flowing in to and out of the city.
The council's action comes after a Nov. 1 letter from the state Attorney General's Office stating the city must change its digging method if it wants to be reimbursed for its service line replacement work.
On Wednesday, the council debated whether or not the Attorney General's letter is included within the scope of the council's investigation.
City Council President and 6th Ward Councilman Herb Winfrey said the letter and questions about a University of Michigan predictive model that finds lead aren't in the scope of the hearing.
Instead, Winfrey said the scope should be narrowed to understanding how Flint is pulling from $251 million in state and federal funding that was made available to Flint in 2017.
Fourth Ward Councilwoman Kate Fields said the letter and model should be discussed because the state is threatening to stop funding if changes aren't made.
"I think that the letter and the issues in it should become our priority in any hearing," Fields said.
The motion to include the letter and the predictive model in the hearing was passed in a 5-4 vote.
The Nov. 1 letter from the AG referenced the model and requested Flint use all available resources to find and replace lead lines.
The city says it won't be forced to hydrovac despite the state's threat to stop funding of its service line replacement program.
AECOM's former program manager for Flint's FAST Start replacement program, Alan Wong, was questioned as the main witness at Wednesday's hearing.
Wong went over AECOM's, a Los Angles-based engineering firm, methodology for Phase 5. The engineering firm was contract for $5 million to oversee FAST Start in December 2017.
Wong, who's last day with AECOM was Nov. 8, according to a representative from the firm, said the model's predictions were considered in planning, but not relied on.
"The model is groundbreaking," Wong said. "We had considered the information provided by the model. But it's not practical to just use what the model said."
AECOM isn't using the computer model to find these lead or steel pipes because the model has a 94 percent success rate, Wong previously said. AECOM wants a 100 percent rate.
To date, 8,046 homes have been dug up in 2018 and only 1,360 were discovered to have lead or galvanized lines that were replaced.
Overall, the city has dug up 16,879 homes and replaced 7,588 lead lines. Nearly 83 percent of those lead lines were found in 2016 and 2017.
AECOM assigned homes in areas historically and statistically known to have copper lines as well as those known to have lead.
The city of Flint's ban on a cost-effective tool and its method for finding lead water service pipes may mean it could run out of money before all its hazardous pipes are removed.
Council raised questions about how the city was spending funding for Phase 5 of work. Wong said its estimated the city will contract around $80 million worth of service line replacement this year.
According to documents submitted to the state by the city, Flint will spend $85.5 million on service line replacement work between Phases 4 and 5.
This table was made using cost estimates submitted to the MDEQ by the city of Flint as of Oct. 31
Council members Mays and 5th Ward Councilwoman Jerri Winfrey-Carter asked for copies of invoices made by AECOM for the city to send to the state.
Winfrey-Carter was particularly interested in why work wasn't being done in her ward, which is an area predicted to have the most lead or galvanized lines.
Wong responded saying a portion of Ward 5 is considered an area where American Indian ancestral remains have been discovered in the past.
The city received preliminary approval to use pressurized water to located buried service lines from the State Historic Preservation Office, according to previous reporting.
AECOM said extensive work in the 5th Ward won't begin until next summer so Native American tribes associated with the burial grounds are given adequate notice.
Only 163 homes in the 5th Ward have had their pipes checked this year. The hit rate of finding lead in that area is 90 percent.
In contrast, the 4th Ward, a ward predicted to have the least amount of lead or galvanized lines, had 702 homes dug up as of August. Only 17 of those homes were discovered to have hazardous lines.
The investigative hearing ended when 3rd Ward Councilman Santino Guerra had to leave because of a scheduling conflict.
Earlier in the meeting Fields, 9th Ward Councilwoman Eva Worthing and 8th Ward Councilman Allan Griggs left the hearing after arguments between Worthing, Fields and Mays.
Without enough council members present, the hearing was drawn to an end and recessed for 4 p.m. Monday. |
|
|
|
Thu Nov 15, 2018 11:22 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
"Nelson obtained the protection order against Mays in 2006 after Nelson claimed Mays confronted him inside council chambers following a council meeting.
Mays hammered Nelson about their history during a question-and-answer session prior to the council's vote to appoint Nelson and Winfrey.
"That was a fraudulent PPO," Mays declared while trying to question Nelson on his motivation to obtain the protection order.
Nelson declined to address their history, saying it wasn't germane to the council selection process."
Nelson, Winfrey are new members appointed to Flint City Council
Updated January 5, 2015 at 8:34 PM; Posted January 5, 2015 at 8:33 PM
By Gary Ridley
FLINT, MI -- From no contact to equal votes.
That is the relationship between newly appointed Flint city Councilman Kerry Nelson and currently seated Councilman Eric Mays.
Nelson, who was previously elected to the council before being defeated in the August 2009 primary election, was selected to rejoin the council Monday, Jan. 5, to serve the Third Ward. The appointment means Nelson would likely sit just feet away from Mays, who the former councilman once secured a personal protection order against.
Herbert Winfrey was also selected to join the council to represent the Sixth Ward.
Nelson obtained the protection order against Mays in 2006 after Nelson claimed Mays confronted him inside council chambers following a council meeting.
Mays hammered Nelson about their history during a question-and-answer session prior to the council's vote to appoint Nelson and Winfrey.
"That was a fraudulent PPO," Mays declared while trying to question Nelson on his motivation to obtain the protection order.
Nelson declined to address their history, saying it wasn't germane to the council selection process.
However, the former councilman, who was supported by former Mayor Don Williamson during his tenure on the council, said jobs and water rates were two of the largest issues currently facing the council.
"If you have jobs, if you have people moving into the city, then your tax base will be stronger," Nelson said. "Right now, there's a weak tax base."
Nelson said current water rates place a high burden on people in the community.
He added that he would be willing to search out possibilities for new economic opportunities, particularly by leveraging the city's higher education facilities and hospitals.
"There's a lot of opportunity in the Third Ward," Nelson said.
Winfrey, who serves as a pastor, said he wanted to make Flint a better, safer place for people to live.
"I try to make Flint better wherever I am serving," Winfrey said.
However, Winfrey added that the responsibility of reshaping the city's future doesn't fall solely on the city council.
"I believe a community is what it accepts," Winfrey said. "I don't believe all the time you can legislate safety."
Winfrey wasn't ready to comment on what type of government should be put in place to lead the city in the future. However, he said he doesn't believe the state's current emergency manager law is the right approach.
"I know the intent of the law," Winfrey said. "I think in its form now, it gives too much power to one person."
The meeting, attended by roughly three dozen people, allowed council members to interview the candidates prior to making their selections. However, rather than posing questions, many council members used the time to comment on the status of current council leadership.
Earley, who had the authority under state law to make direct appointments to the council, solicited letters of interest, resumes and references from interested candidates in November.
Sixth Ward Councilman Sheldon Neeley was elected as 34th District state representative in November, and Third Ward Councilman Bryant Nolden was elected to serve as a new Genesee County commissioner.
The two new city council members will serve until November 2015, when they will need to seek reelection.
Quincy Murphy and Linda Booze were also interviewed for the Third Ward seat, while Audrey Makokha and former fire Chief Theron Wiggins interviewed for the Sixth Ward position |
|
|
|
Fri Nov 23, 2018 5:44 pm |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
| Bad behavior by Mays is not new! |
|
|
|
Fri Nov 23, 2018 5:45 pm |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
·
WFNT.COM
Struggle For Control of Flint City Council Detailed in Interview
In an on-air radio interview, Saturday, November 10, 2018, three Flint City Council members expressed their views about their colleagues. Ward 2
In an on-air radio interview, Saturday, November 10, 2018, three Flint City Council members expressed their views about their colleagues.
Ward 2 Councilman Maurice Davis, Ward 1 Councilman Eric Mays and Ward 5 Councilwoman Gerri Winfrey-Carter spoke specifically about councilwoman Kate Fields (4th Ward) and Councilwoman Eva Worthing (9th Ward) on the heels of a combative press conference which the latter two held on Nov. 8, 2018.
Councilpersons Mays, Davis, and Winfrey-Carter spoke about their belief that Fields and Worthing were only concerned about the citizens in their respective wards and not the City as a whole due to "class-ism/racism" and that other reasons included the upcoming council elections for President and various committee chairs this Monday Nov.12, 2018.
There was also mention of another of their colleagues, Santino Guerra 3rd Ward Councilman, indicating that he "fence sits" and "votes with the Fields, Worthing, Griggs crowd", and that he should just "vote with us to end this nonsense."
These views were also echoed by the host of the show, A.C. Dumas. Mr. Dumas also indicated that he often contacts councilpersons other than his own, Mr. Guerra, to "get things done." The interview was aired 11-10-18 on radio station WFLT 1420AM Flint, MI. |
|
|
|
Thu Nov 29, 2018 11:23 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Sally Haywood
6 hrs ·
NBC 25
·
Arthur Woodson
NBC 25
·
This guy does not work for the city. Aonie Gilcrest should not be making any decisions for the city of Flint. PERIOD!!! Our city is going down because of the people. They dont care about that $700,000. The city will just give them another contract and they will pay to play.
Mayor Karen Weaver's chief of staff was blunt about the difference.
"Gilcreast has told us we're not gonna pay you".
(What happened o Branch as Chief of Staff?)
Mayor Karen Weaver's chief of staff was blunt about the difference.
"Gilcreast has told us we're not gonna pay you".
Flint contractor out $700K in fight between state and city
by Joel Feick
At an investigative hearing of Flint City Council, a Goyette official had no issue with the ban on hydro-vac trucks. Joe Parks of Goyette says "we believe the mayor's office ban has good reasons to protect the citizens of Flint." But they still want their money. (Photo: WEYI/WSMH)
(FLINT, Mich.) The use of hydro-vac trucks to find water pipes continues to be a lightning rod of controversy for the city of Flint.
The state wants Flint to use the trucks. The mayor refuses, saying they aren't safe because they don't catch spliced lines.
Caught in the middle is a Flint contractor.
Goyette Mechanical hasn't used hydro-vac trucks since June, when the mayor banned them.
The alternative requires extra manpower. Men with shovels digging holes.
Goyette signed a contract with the city to hydro-vac. The company is owed money for the extra work.
How much money? We talking $706,000, according to Goyette.
At an investigative hearing of Flint City Council, a Goyette official had no issue with the ban on hydro-vac trucks.
Joe Parks of Goyette says "we believe the mayor's office ban has good reasons to protect the citizens of Flint."
But they still want their money.
Mayor Karen Weaver's chief of staff was blunt about the difference.
"Gilcreast has told us we're not gonna pay you".
One council member attempted to console Parks.
Council woman Monica Galloway says "I apologize on behalf of the city...You deserve to get paid".
But the mayors spokesperson says the city will only pay for what was in the original contract. Nothing extra.
Committee chairman Eric Mays predicts they'll eventually get paid.
A state official was scheduled to testify today before the committee.
Amy Epkey of the MDEQ was subpoenaed, but she was a no-show. An assistant attorney general claimed she didn't have to.
Santino Guerra, Flint city councilman says "it's interesting because the attorney generals office approved our charter that said we have the right to subpoena individuals so i'm highly disappointed that they didn't show up and the state is defending them not to."
Mays says they'll take Epkey to court to compel her to testify.
They'll also subpoena other state officials including Governor Snyder's office. |
|
|
|
Thu Nov 29, 2018 11:32 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
FLINT NEWS
Flint objects to more state oversight of city's water system
Updated Nov 28, 7:27 AM; Posted Nov 28, 7:26 AM
Flint Mayor Karen Weaver speaks during a press conference at Flint City Hall on April 16, 2018, as Flint Chief Legal Officer Angela Wheeler looks on in this Flint Journal file photo.
Flint Mayor Karen Weaver speaks during a press conference at Flint City Hall on April 16, 2018, as Flint Chief Legal Officer Angela Wheeler looks on in this Flint Journal file photo. (Bronte Wittpenn | MLive.com)
By Ron Fonger rfonger1@mlive.com
FLINT, MI - The city won't agree to a more water system oversight by the state of Michigan without a fight.
Mayor Karen Weaver has formally requested a public hearing rather than have the city comply with a consent order issued in October by the Department of Environmental Quality.
"The (hearing) request is necessary to address the manifest errors in the order and the arbitrary and capricious nature of the order ...," the city's filing says. "The order fails to reflect that the quality of the city water is high, equaling or exceeding the quality of comparable water systems in the state of Michigan and that the system is stable."
Weaver's hearing request outlines the city's general position of opposing further state control over actions that range from filling vacant positions by certain dates to upgrading reservoirs.
Order issued after Flint, state can't agree on deadlines for water system work
Order issued after Flint, state can't agree on deadlines for water system work
"The city relies heavily on state and federal technical support to manage its water system," the director's letter says. "The reliance on outside entities for long-term technical support is not the preference of the city or the MDEQ. The MDEQ shares the city's goal that the city achieve long-term self-reliance."
After failing to reach an voluntary agreement on a schedule for achieving the same issues, DEQ Director Heidi Grether issued the order Oct. 22.
While she praised Flint's current water quality, Grether said at the time that the state remained concerned by unresolved "long-term technical and managerial issues," the order says.
In requesting the hearing, Weaver takes issue with that and several other contentions in the order, saying the DEQ has failed to acknowledge that Flint has already rectified "substantially all of the 'significant deficiencies' noted in" it.
Chelsea Lewis, a DEQ spokeswoman, said in an email to MLive-The Flint Journal that the state is in the process of setting that date and venue for the public hearing.
EPA: State has authority to set deadlines for Flint to fix water deficiencies
EPA: State has authority to set deadlines for Flint to fix water deficiencies
"I appreciate the efforts that both sides have put into resolving the deficiencies identified in the sanitary survey," Holst said. "The city has made and continues to make good faith efforts to resolve the identified issues ... I hope the city and state can resolve (this) issue, so the parties can focus on resolving the rest of the sanitary survey deficiencies."
A written response to the mayor's request for a hearing is expected to be issued this week, Lewis said.
The state's order includes a finding that the city is in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act, noting that the DEQ previously issued a violation notice tied directly to water system deficiencies.
That 2017 notice directed the city to either complete or be in compliance with a corrective action plan and schedule within 120 days, something the state maintains did not happen. |
|
|
|
Thu Nov 29, 2018 11:50 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
| I don't understand how Mayor Weaver and the council believe they can tell the state what to do? |
|
|
|
Thu Nov 29, 2018 11:52 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Mays lost it at the council meeting and was screaming. Some council and members of the public felt blessed that the fire alarm went off. Another video coming of "Eric Mays goes nuts at council"?
I hear this was his worst episode of going ballistic ever. No need to curse everyone out in a council meeting.
Last edited by untanglingwebs on Fri Dec 14, 2018 5:20 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
|
|
Tue Dec 11, 2018 5:00 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Christopher Martin The platform for 2019 is not the City Charter. The Platform for 2019 is the continued progress that Mayor Karen Williams Weaver has made moving Flint Forward! Water is STILL AN ISSUE, and OUR MAIN FOCAL POINT!! Not The Charter!!
Terry Bankert Christopher Martin then why block it
Linda Pohly Christopher Martin I do hope that what you say is true, but one highly placed official in city government went on the radio and attacked not not only the Charter, but the Charter Commissioners, on Taxpayer time.
Sally Haywood The mayor rejects transparency favoring secrecy in her transactions. She favors excluding council and public participation over proper governance. This is not democracy. She is a "one trick pony" using the water crisis to hide her ineptness at administering the city RTAB discussed the possible future problems including a huge pension adjustment. Has any one on council seen the HUD monitoring reports for the last two years? Hud comes usually in March and has a report at least by April. |
|
|
|
Tue Dec 11, 2018 7:41 am |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Register
Profile
FlintTalk.com Forum Index
> Political Talk
