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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Channel 7 is updating this story at noon today!
Call to ChTannel 7 Investigators exposes big water leakage in Detroit
Posted: 08/11/2011
By: Scott Lewis
DETROIT (WXYZ) - The City of Detroit loses millions of gallons of clean drinking water every year because of leaks in its system – and you’re paying for it. The problem is getting worse because thousands of homes have been abandoned and copper thieves are stealing pipes and letting the water run.
Action News Investigator uncovered this problem when responding to a complaint from a Channel 7 viewer, who called about how water has been running from a vacant home for weeks. The call came from a resident on Hartwell Street near Fenkell.
Like a lot of streets in Detroit, this one is a mixed bag. It has nice homes with well kept yards, but also a growing number of vacant houses.
Residents say they’ve learned to live with the blight. Sometimes they pitch in and mow the vacant lots to make their street look a little better.
Residents say they called the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department about the running water, but their calls were ignored for weeks. Fed up, they called the Action News Investigators for help. “The water has been spewing since about the middle of June,” says Hartwell resident Eric Fenton.
Fenton told Action News Investigator Scott Lewis that a metal scavenger stole the copper spigot off the side of the house last June and the water has been running ever since—all day, seven days a week.
“My neighbors, they’ve been calling in, but nothing has happened,” says one Hartwell resident. Fenton said he finally went to the city water department to report it in person.
A few days later, a Detroit Water and Sewerage Department repair truck pulled up, but the problem didn’t get fixed.
“They stuck that big pole down in the ground, which is the wrench to cut that switch off, the valve off rather, and that was it,” says Hartwell resident Tyrese Anderson. “When they couldn’t cut it off, they put it back in the truck and went on.”
The Investigators did some checking and found out this is a problem across the city. There are a lot of vacant houses in Detroit with water running. It’s a combination of the real estate bust and high demand for scrap metal.
Detroit Water and Sewerage Department spokesman Rodney Jackson said that people often walk away from their homes and don’t notify the city to shut their water off. Then metal thieves move in, steal the pipes, and leave the water running.
Hartwell residents said that copper thefts from vacant homes are a big problem in their neighborhood.
“That’s almost like a way of life around here for some people,” Tyrese Anderson says. Hot water tanks, furnaces, any kitchen that’s got fairly new cabinets and stuff in it, that house will get empty, that’s gone!"
Often when copper thieves leave, the water is left running and we all pay the price. It’s called leakage. And the cost of the running water is spread out among taxpayers in the city and the suburbs.
Action News showed video of the leak on Hartwell Street to John McCulloch, the director of the Oakland County Water Resources Commission.
“That’s quite a fountain,” McCulloch quipped.
He went on to say that water loss in Detroit is a serious problem, and is significantly above the national average. He says the city reports its leakage rate at 17%, but McCulloch believes it is much higher.
“I think it’s closer to 30 percent, “says McCulloch, and of course, the challenge is the rate payers are paying for that water to be treated, and now it is not only being lost but it is now going in the sewer system and is being treated again.”
The Action News Investigators used a stop watch to see how long it would take to fill a gallon jug with the water spewing from the side of the vacant house on Hartwell.
It took only 15 seconds. That’s four gallons a minute. And four gallons a minute over two months comes to 345,600 gallons. That’s a lot of water, enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool more than half way.
McCulloch says over a period of two months that amount of water would cost between $900 and $1200. He said when you get hundreds or thousands of leaks across the city it adds up to a significant amount of money that gets passed on to rate payers.
Action News Investigator Scott Lewis Called the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to ask why the Hartwell leak had gone unrepaired for two months.
An hour and a half later, a city crew showed up, dug a hole, turned a valve off and stopped the flow of water from the vacant home. A member of the work crew told Scott Lewis the city has a long list of vacant houses with water leaking.
Action News asked the Water and Sewerage Department spokesman Rodney Johnson how many houses are on the city’s list, why it took so long to shut off the water on Hartwell Street, and why there was no follow-up after the first crew showed up and was unable to shut the water supply down.
Johnson has not gotten back to us with answers.The Action News Investigators will stay on the case.
Copyright 2011 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. |
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Wed Sep 07, 2011 9:50 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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City responds to Action News’ investigation water leaking in vacant buildings
Residents say leaks unrepaired for years
Posted: 08/25/2011
By: Scott Lewis
DETROIT (WXYZ) - It’s the gusher that got Detroit talking.
Earlier this week, Action News Investigator Scott Lewis exposed a disturbing waste of a precious resource.
Clean water was going down the drain in a vacant house on Marx Street in Northeast Detroit and neighbors said it had been running for years, even after they reported it.
The water was shooting out of a wall where a copper thief had stolen a water meter and it was coming out at a rate of one gallon every two seconds.
Residents say the house was leaking for over three years, wasting roughly 47 million gallons of clean drinking water.
The result is higher water bills for everyone is Southeast Detroit.
While the water was gushing on Marx Street, Scott Lewis talked with 80-year-old Lucile Powe who was fretting over her water bill on Detroit’s west side.
Out of the blue, Powe recieved a bill for $400; four times the normal amount. She told Action News the city could not explain why her bill was so high and they were threatening to shut off her water service.
Now, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is responding to our investigation.
Darryl Latimer, the department’s deputy director, denies that the water department was notified of the leak on Marx Street at least two years ago, as several neighbors told Channel 7. He said the city was first notified of the leak in March of this year.
"They're trying to cover their butts. You know, they're trying to cover themselves so they don't look so stupid," said Marx Street resident Christina Jefferson.
While Darryl Latimer denied the city allowed the leak to flow for years without fixing it, he did take full responsibility for the delay shutting off the water.
When a city crew went to the vacant house in March, they were unable to stop the leak because they didn’t have the proper equipment to dig a hole and get to a shut-off valve. The city didn’t come back to fix the leak until five months later; when the Action News Investigators got involved.
"Somewhere along the line, and I'm not going to be making any excuses, that should never occur. Somewhere along the line there was a miscommunication and the department should have responded to that in a quicker fashion,” said Latimer.
Latimer said once their crew went to the leak in March, it should have been fixed within two days, not five months.
"And I thank you for your report and bringing this to our attention so I can look at our protocols and make sure this situation doesn't occur again," Latimer said.
Just Wednesday, the Action News Investigators got a tip on another leak that neighbors claim has been running for two years.
It's a big commercial building on the city’s west side where we found water flowing out of the foundation. The basement appeared to be full of leaking water and overflowing.
"You know it's been running out there for about two years,” said neighbor Booker Finley.
Finley also pointed out a fire hydrant on the block that had been leaking water for a long time.
“The fire hydrant has been running for about five years, and they just cut it off this year,” said Finley, “But water's still coming out of the building."
Latimer denied that water is left running in vacant buildings for years. He told Action News that once they're notified, they act quickly.
So how many leaky buildings are on the list right now?
"There's about 50 that we have on record that we are going to shut off in the next 2 to 3 weeks,” Latimer said.
Latimer admitted that the city is facing a huge problem with leaking in vacant buildings. He said that since the housing market crash, thousands of people have walked away from homes and commercial buildings without notifying the water department.
"In in 2008, 2009 and 2010, we shut off over 11 thousand properties each year, or vacant homes. Out of those 11 thousand, four thousand homes were flooding homes. So we're actively and aggressively pursuing those situations,” Latimer said.
And what about Lucile Powe, the 80-year-old woman who was being threatened with a shut-off notice for a disputed $400 bill?
Latimer said they're working to figure out what caused that huge bill, and if they find out it’s their mistake, they'll correct it. He added that they will give Powe time to make payments if it’s determined that she does owe that much money.
Action News frequently gets complaints from viewers who say they get the run-around or are treated rudely when they call the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to dispute bills.
Latimer admitted that there have been problems in their customer service department, in part because of a rash of retirements. He said he has been directed by Mayor Dave Bing to make improvements in customer service.
"We're in the process of training some newer employees so we can better respond to some of our customer issues," he said.
Oakland County’s Director of Water Services, John McCollugh, tells Action News he believes about 30 percent of the drinking water Detroit produces is lost to leaks in the system within
the city limits of Detroit.
Darryl Latimer says the leakage rate is closer to 17 percent in the city, but rises to about 23 percent when you add in water used for services such as fighting fires and cleaning streets. |
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Wed Sep 07, 2011 9:54 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Consultant: 31 percent of Detroit's fresh drinking water goes down the drain
City was offered pilot leak detection program
Posted: 10:45 PM
Last Updated: 1 hour and 16 minutes ago
By: Scott Lewis
DETROIT (WXYZ) - Here we go again with the hip boots.
This time, The Action News Investigators are headed into a big, abandoned, multi-unit building on Cadillac Boulevard. A Channel 7 viewer told us fresh drinking water was gushing out of a wall in the basement.
As I hit the bottom of the basement stairs, I could smell the chlorine. With an Action News photographer in tow, I navigated through a pool in the basement and headed toward the front of the building.
There, fresh drinking water was gushing out of a big pipe and going right down the drain. A neighbor told us it had been flowing for months.
Last month The Action News Investigators found the same thing happening at a house on Marx Street, and another one on Hartwell. A tipster sent us to a big commercial building where the basement was full of water and bubbling out of the foundation.
It’s become a huge problem in Detroit.
When we pressed city officials last week, they acknowledged the problem is vast. They told us they’ve shut off leaking water in 12 thousand vacant houses in the last three years, and those are just the ones they knew about.
All of us pay for this in southeast Michigan because water that leaks out of the system is spread out among everyone’s water and sewer bill.
So why in the world did the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department turn down money to help them find leaks? We’re talking about free money, $300,000 from the State of Michigan for a pilot project.
The plan was to bring in a world-renowned company called MIYA from Israel that has new technology to find leaks in municipal water systems. Detroit was all set to have MIYA team up with a local company, Westin Engineering, to find out where the leaks are in Detroit so they can be fixed.
But the Action News Investigators learned Detroit never used the money so it was offered to Grand Rapids.
“And Grand Rapids accepted it with open arms so that project is now underway in Grand Rapids,” said Oakland County’s Director of Water Resources, John McCulloch. “Grants like this don’t come along every day, and why Detroit didn’t take advantage of it is somewhat of a large question that has yet to be answered.”
It’s especially puzzling when you consider what The Investigators have uncovered over the last few weeks.
We asked the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department Director Darryl Latimer just how much clean drinking water is really leaking in Detroit?
“That number we have for unaccounted water is at 23 percent,” said Darryl Latimer.
But information buried in a consultant’s report obtained by The Action News Investigators paints a much worse picture. It’s a report that was never made public. It was used by MIYA, the Israeli company that specializes in leak detection which put Detroit’s leakage rate at 31 percent. If true, that means nearly one third of the clean drinking water Detroit produces disappears, and much of it goes down the sewer where you pay to have it treated again.
“It’s far outside the realm of reason in terms of what a major system should be experiencing,” said Oakland County’s McCulloch. “That historically is what you do see in third-world countries is a loss of 30 to 40 percent.”
That 31 percent leakage rate came from figures compiled long before the real estate crash and mass abandonment of homes, many of which are leaking water.
That suggests the leakage rate today could be even worse.
So why did the Detroit water department turn down that free money to locate leaks?
“The director at that time didn’t want to pursue that contract because it would have called for the department to expend and additional $700,000,” said Latimer.
But that doesn’t jibe with records obtained by The Investigators.
We obtained a copy of the contract for the leak detection program. Pamela Turner, Detroit’s Water and Sewerage Director at the time, signed it in September of 2009.
A letter cancelling the project was sent out almost a year later, after Turner had retired.
Latimer signed the paperwork cancelling the deal.
As for the $700,000 Latimer said the city would have to spend on the Israeli deal?
“There may have been some minor costs in terms of adding additional access pits to the water system. I can't see why they would spend $700 thousand dollars,” said Oakland County’s McCullough.
Five weeks after Detroit cancelled the Israeli company’s contract, the city consultant that produced the never-published report got an extension on its contract for $1,600,000.
Latimer says another reason for cancelling the Israeli contract is that the city tried their technology and it didn’t work.
“We piloted that company that was brought in for some difficult leaks to locate and they were unsuccessful,” said Latimer.
Latimer said the Israeli method proved no more successful than the department’s current leak detection contractor but he couldn’t provide any documentation that the Israeli program was ever tried.
Latimer said the city was never made aware of the Israeli firm’s 31 percent leakage estimate.
He said the report
used by the Israelis was never published because the city disagreed with some of its assumptions and later amended it.
The City of Farmington Hills also won a state grant to use MIYA from Israel for leak detection. Their work is finished and they estimate the savings for ratepayers to be about one million dollars over seven years, more than they were anticipating. |
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Wed Sep 07, 2011 9:59 am |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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| Webs, forward this to the Journal & local TV. maybe a miracle will occur & they'll look into it. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Wed Sep 07, 2011 10:08 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Derrick Miller, one of the 5 indicted in the federal RICO case involving the Kilpatrick Enterprise, has taken a plea deal. There is a limited number of seats in the witness boat, so it will be interesting to see how the rest plays out.
Kilpatrick, Mercado and ferguson played key roles in the alleged corruption involving the Detroit water system.
Inside the Kilpatrick RICO indictment: Bobby Ferguson's deals with Detroit water department
Published: Thursday, December 16, 2010, 10:59 AM Updated: Thursday, December 16, 2010, 11:19 AM
By Jeff T. Wattrick | MLive.com MLive.com
AP Photo/Detroit Free Press, David P. GilkeyIn this January 30, 2002 photo, then Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick walks with Bobby Ferguson of Ferguson Enterprises Inc. during the demolition of three different abandoned houses on Mountclair St. near Joy Middle School. Ferguson, imprisoned ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Bernard Kilpatrick, Victor Mercado and Derrick Miller were indicted Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010 on corruption charges.
When U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade announced the RICO indictments yesterday, she declined to speculate on exactly how much the “Kilpatrick Enterprise” cost Detroit taxpayers or exactly how much Bobby Ferguson’s businesses profited from extorting work for Detroit Water and Sewerage contractors.
However, the indictment lists out 11 different multimillion dollar contracts that, thanks to the not-so-subtle suggestion of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Bobby Ferguson either won or received a subcontracting role.
All told, these deals amounted to $310.7 million worth of work over a seven year period.
A good portion of that work went to Ferguson. Not, allegedly, because he had submitted the lowest or best bid but simply because his friend, the mayor, wanted Ferguson in on the deal.
Here are those 11 contracts, as described in the indictment:
U.S. v. Kilpatrick, et al, pg.6: Kwame Kilpatrick, Assisted by Mercado, Miller and Bernard Kilpatrick Held Up Company I’s $50 Million Sewer Lining Contract Until Company I Agreed To Give Ferguson Work Which Ultimately Totaled $24.7 Million After Extensions.
U.S. v. Kilpatrick, et al, pg.8: Kwame Kilpatrick and Mercado Cancelled Company L’s $10 Million Sewer Repair Contract Because Company L Refused Ferguson’s Demand For A 25% Share, the Awarded The Work To Company I and Company I Agreed to Give Ferguson a Portion Of The Contract.
RELATED CONTENT
• Feds say 'culture of corruption is over' as grand jury indicts former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, 4 others in city hall probe
• Indictment alleges past Kilpatrick crimes, but current leaders must prevent future corruption
• Kwame Kilpatrick throws a pity party on Twitter
• Read the indictment (.pdf)
• Complete Kwame Kilpatrick coverage
U.S. v. Kilpatrick, et al, pg. 10: Kwame Kilpatrick Steered Work to Ferguson at a Sewer Collapse, the Held Up A $12 Million Amendment To Company I’s Sewer Lining Contract Until Company I Agreed to Give Ferguson $350,000.
U.S. v. Kilpatrick, et al, pg. 12: Ferguson Extorted Company L Out of $1.7 Million From a $27.9 Million Sewer Outfalls Contract
U.S. v. Kilpatrick, et al, pg. 15: Kwame Kilpatrick, Ferguson, Miller and Mercado Schemed to Increase Ferguson’s Revenues on a $19.8 Million Downtown Water Mail Contract Administered by Company D.
U.S. v. Kilpatrick, et al, pg.17: Kwame Kilpatrick and Mercado Rigger a Water Main Contract for the East Side of the City so Ferguson’s Team Would Win, after which Ferguson Extorted more than $12.9 Million in Work [ED: On a $15 million contract] from Other Members of the Winning Team.
U.S. v. Kilpatrick, et al, pg.21: Ferguson Extorted Company L out of $5 Million in Work on a Sewer Repair Contract for East Side of City.
U.S. v. Kilpatrick, et al, pg.22: Ferguson Extorted Company I out of $5 Million in Work on a Sewer Repair Contract for West Side of City.
U.S. v. Kilpatrick, et al, pg.24: Ferguson, Assisted by Miller and Mercado, Extorted Company W out of $5 Million in Work for Ferguson on the Baby Creek/Patton Park Contract.
U.S. v. Kilpatrick, et al, pg.26: Kwame Kilpatrick and Mercado, Assisted by Miller, Rigged the Award of a $21 Million Security Contract to Ensure Ferguson’s Team Won, Causing Ferguson to Receive $1.2 Million in Work.
U.S. v. Kilpatrick, et al, pg.31: Ferguson, Assisted by Kwame Kilpatrick and Mercado, Attempted to Extort Company W to Give Ferguson a Substantial Portion of a $140 Million Oakwood Pump Station Contract.
© 2011 MLive.com. All rights reserved. |
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Tue Sep 13, 2011 6:51 pm |
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00SL2
F L I N T O I D
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detnews.com
September 10, 2011 http://detnews.com/article/20110910/METRO/109100352
Fed judge orders new clean water plan for Detroit
City can ignore union contracts to stop pollution violations, he rules
ROBERT SNELL
/ The Detroit News
Detroit— A federal judge told Detroit officials Friday they can ignore union contracts and the city charter while crafting a plan to end repeated violations of environmental laws by the city's Water and Sewerage Department — or he will order more "intrusive" remedies.
U.S. District Judge Sean Cox refused the city's request to end judicial oversight of the utility, citing "serious and recurrent" violations of the Clean Water Act that pose health, safety and environmental risks to area residents.
The opinion is the latest act by Cox since he inherited oversight of the Detroit utility late last year.
Union leaders said the judge's order could result in lower wages for workers, while a state legislator said he fears customers across southeastern Michigan could be forced to pay higher rates that could be used to fund costly infrastructure repairs to the aging system.
"The chilling thing is this could have an adverse impact on rates," said state Rep. Kurt Heise, R-Plymouth. "This almost smells like a threat of an emergency manager. A court can order really whatever it wants."
The utility provides water and sewer services to more than 4 million customers in 126 communities.
Cox told Mayor Dave Bing, Detroit City Council leaders and a member of the water commission to devise a plan to stop environmental violations. They have 60 days and will not be limited by the city charter, ordinances or union contracts.
"If these local officials fail to devise and propose a workable solution to remedy the underlying causes of the serious and recurrent violations of the Clean Water Act in this case, this court will directly order a more intrusive remedy," Cox wrote.
The violations involve the city's wastewater treatment plant near the Detroit River. In recent years, the city has been cited for exceeding limits for discharges of water-based particles, and exceeding limits for mercury and PCBs.
City spokesman Dan Lijana said: "We are working with all stakeholders to end federal oversight of the water department.We have engaged regional partners to create a new water board with the technical expertise to better manage the department and serve our customers.
"Working with Judge Cox, our next step is to bring City Council to the table to work with us to ensure that all parties are involved and collaborating to find a timely resolution."
AFSCME Local 207 president John Riehl, who represents Water Department employees, called the judge's order "short-sighted."
"He is making a very clumsy decision," Riehl said. "If they ignore contracts, then I guess a clumsy manager could jeopardize people's wages and benefits."
John McCulloch, water resources commissioner for Oakland County, said the judge seems focused on fixing problems with personnel, training and procurement, not hiking rates or lowering union wages.
"This knee-jerk reaction is really unwarranted," he said. "I don't find this harsh. I find it facing reality. He's saying 'come up with a permanent solution.' "
Personnel issues have plagued the department, which hasn't had a permanent director since June 2008, when Victor Mercado resigned. He was later indicted by a federal grand jury and accused of playing a role in a bid-rigging scheme involving the department and ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
The judge's ruling indicated the utility could save money by sidestepping the city charter. Cox cited a charter mandate that local firms get incentives when bidding on contracts.
"These local preferences, in practice, have increased the cost of DWSD's procurement of goods and services and limited the pool of vendors bidding on various DWSD contracts," Cox wrote.
Ignoring union contracts could help address problems hiring qualified personnel, according to the judge, citing citywide bargaining agreements that restrict compensation for prospective utility employees.
Cox, who has broad oversight of the department following a 1977 federal consent judgment that settled a pollution lawsuit, has made major changes in the department.
Early this year, he fired the lawyer who helped oversee the utility during a scandal-plagued period filled with alleged bid-rigging and bribery.
He also brokered a deal that gave suburban leaders more input into the management of the utility. The deal called for federal oversight of the system to end within six months and the creation of a seven-member regional board to oversee the department.
Detroit still maintains control of a majority of the board, but the deal allows for one member each selected by Wayne, Oakland and Macomb county officials. Bing names the members, but at the recommendation of the suburban leaders.
Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano vowed to help meet the judge's order.
"It is my understanding that this order will result in identifying opportunities to reduce administrative expenses with the goal of lowering costs to all of DWSD's customers," Ficano said in a statement.
"This is an important step to concluding the 35-plus-year litigation."
rsnell@detnews.com
(313) 222-2028
© Copyright 2011 The Detroit News. All rights reserved. |
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Tue Sep 13, 2011 7:24 pm |
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00SL2
F L I N T O I D
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http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/09/13/citizens-argue-against-plan-for-detroit-water-system/
Citizens Argue Against Plan For Detroit Water System
September 13, 2011 2:58 PM
Detroit City Council, Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, tom barrow
DETROIT (WWJ) – Dozens of citizens packed Detroit City Council chambers on Tuesday to urge Council to aggressively fight what they say is an attempt to privatize the city’s water department.
Failed mayoral candidate Tom Barrow was among the speakers.
“Now a Republican judge using an embedded Republican facilitator in the mayor’s office seeks to take the city’s water system,” said Barrow. “This council must act using its own lawsuit,” Barrow said.
“Would you let someone come into your home and say I don’t like the way you’re running it, and I’m taking your home? No, I don’t think so! So, I say sue them and stop them. They can’t take our water,” said one woman.
“The people have a right to expect aggressive action by the city officers in seeking to advance, conserve, maintain and protect the integrity of the human, physical and natural resources of this city,” said another.
The citizens are reacting to last week’s order by U.S. District Judge Sean Cox that gives Detroit 60 days to submit a plan for a long-term compliance with the Clean Water Act. If not, Cox is promising to impose his own solution.
Elected officials in Detroit are scheduled to meet with Cox this Friday to discuss it.
Challenges to Detroit’s control of its water and sewerage department go back decades but have gained momentum following federal indictments against former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his colleagues.
The department has been under federal oversight for 34 years.
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Related: McCulloch Pleased With Ruling On Detroit Water Department
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/09/12/mcculloch-pleased-with-ruling-on-detroit-water-department/ |
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Tue Sep 13, 2011 8:10 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Millions spent for Detroit Water Department watchdogs; what went wrong?
1:47 AM, Dec. 17, 2010 |
Comments
BY JOHN WISELY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department has spent millions of dollars on lawyers and consultants to review the integrity of its contracts and other operations in recent years.
So why didn't these experts spot the apparent rampant corruption alleged in a federal indictment Wednesday?
None of them were talking Thursday after a grand jury said former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and former DWSD Director Victor Mercado illegally steered water contracts to mayoral pal Bobby Ferguson.
Suburban leaders, who have complained for years about questionable contracting and double-digit rate increases for the system that supplies water to most of the region, said the charges point to a department out of control. "It just shows how dysfunctional DWSD has become," said Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner John McCulloch.
The question is not whether monitors could have detected hidden kickbacks, but whether they repeatedly missed red flags on how contracts were awarded to contractors and subcontractors, such as Ferguson. U.S. District Judge John Feikens has overseen the department for more than 30 years as part of a pollution lawsuit settlement. Feikens, 93, stepped down a few weeks ago because of health problems.
Feikens said Thursday that he learned of irregularities in one deal awhile back.
"When I found out about it, I had my special master, Tom Lewand, look into it," Feikens said. "He filed a lengthy report with the U.S. Attorney's Office months ago."
Feikens appointed Lewand in 2002 to help manage the settlement. He referred other questions to Lewand, who did not return messages.
Corruption indictments confirm suburban leaders' concerns about water department
Suburban leaders have long criticized the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department for its annual rate increases and what many considered questionable contracting practices.
They now say that Wednesday's corruption indictments confirm those concerns.
"Here we are, years later, and they haven't been addressed," said Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner John McCulloch.
The charges alleging that former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and then-water chief Victor Mercado illegally steered contracts to mayoral pal Bobby Ferguson are all the more startling because the department has been under judicial oversight for 33 years.
U.S. District Judge John Feikens hired nationally known consultants and respected local lawyers to help manage the lawsuit settlement.
But the indictment paints a picture of widespread corruption -- 13 instances of extortion or bid rigging totaling tens of millions of dollars.
Although some of the alleged corruption would be difficult to detect, critics of DWSD say they raised questions about various contracts over the years that the judge or the people under him were supposed to be monitoring.
"I've often felt that a lot of the problems were brought to the attention of Judge Feikens and his assistants," McCulloch said of the 93-year-old judge, who stepped down weeks ago. "Judicial oversight hasn't worked."
Feikens said Thursday that he did have questions about a security contract cited in the indictment and had a lawyer, F. Thomas Lewand, look into it and forward a report to the U.S. Attorney's Office, which prosecutors confirmed. Feikens referred additional questions to Lewand, who did not return messages Thursday.
The sprawling water system, with more than 4 million customers and annual revenues of more than $800 million, stretches from Lake Huron to Ypsilanti. It has provided a flash point between the city and the suburbs because Detroit owns the system although about three-quarters of the customers now live in the suburbs.
Earlier this week, in fact, DWSD announced that it wants to increase water system revenue by 7.5%.
"It's unfortunate that these kinds of things were going on at DWSD," Anthony Marrocco, Macomb County Public Works Commissioner, said of the corruption. "We knew that Detroit never really ran a sound system."
In 2002, Feikens appointed Lewand to serve as special master over the department, a role that empowers him to assist the judge in managing the pollution lawsuit settlement. Many of the contracts alleged by the federal investigators to have been corrupt involved pollution abatement mandated by the Clean Water Act.
Lewand, of the Bodman LLP law firm, bills the department $428 an hour. So far this year, his billings exceed $176,000, according to billings filed in federal court.
He isn't the only local lawyer to work for the judge.
Another Bodman partner, Valerie Brader, a former Feikens clerk, carries the title of judicial adjunct. Her work is billed to the department at $191 per hour. She has billed almost $39,000 so far this year, records show. She, too, did not return messages seeking comment.
Infrastructure Management Group, a consulting firm based in Bethesda, Md., was hired by Feikens in 2002. It has billed DWSD more than $380,000 this year alone to provide "budget reduction and contract procurement oversight services."
The company's president, John Joyner, didn't return messages seeking comment.
"The millions they spent on IMG, they were supposed to be monitoring the contracts," McCulloch said.In 2003, Feikens created the Southeast Michigan Consortium for Water Quality to address regional water and sewer issues, which would include resolving regional disputes. He chose Tim O'Brien, a then-Ford Motor executive, to lead it.
O'Brien, who didn't return messages Thursday, bills the department $200 an hour for his time and has billed more than $44,000 so far this year, according to billings filed in federal court.
"We've tried the judicial approach, we've kind of tried a form of regional cooperation, now the ball is in the communities' court," said Kurt Heise, a longtime director of environment for Wayne County who was elected as a state representative last month.
Heise won't be sworn in until Jan. 1, but he campaigned on the issue and said he already has asked aides to draft a bill to create a regional authority to oversee the Detroit water department.
Under his plan, the city would retain ownership of all DWSD assets, but a regional authority, made up of Detroit and suburban community officials, would manage it. He also would explore contracting with a management company to run the department.
Dan Lijani, a spokesman for Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, said it's premature to comment on Heise's idea because it hasn't been introduced yet. He declined to comment on whether Bing would support a regional governance system.
Others who have criticized DWSD also want restitution for the money they say was lost to corruption.
"I want that money back," said John Riehl, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 207, which represents water department workers. |
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Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:42 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Enough is enough? Oakland County official makes case for regional control of Detroit water system in wake of 'Kilpatrick Enterprise' indictments
Published: Monday, December 20, 2010, 8:51 AM Updated: Monday, December 20, 2010, 8:57 AM
By Jonathan Oosting | MLive.com MLive.com
AP Photo | Free PressIn this January 30, 2002 photo, then Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick walks with Bobby Ferguson of Ferguson Enterprises Inc.
Federal prosecutors said last week's indictment of Kwame Kilpatrick and his cohorts put an end to the "era of corruption" in Detroit, but the charges also have renewed a long-running dispute over management of the Detroit Water & Sewerage system.
"I think the stars have lined up to where enough is enough," Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner John McCulloch told host Steve Courtney this morning on WJR-AM 760. "In light of the changes we've seen in Lasing. In light of the situation with the city and obviously the federal investigation, and now with a new federal judge on the case, I think it is the time not only for some short-term changes but also to look at some long-term structural changes."
Owned and operated by Detroit, the water system serves more than 4 million people in 126 communities across the region. Detroit residents make up 30 percent of the system's customer base, while the suburbs and outlying communities constitute the remaining 70 percent. A seven-member board that includes three suburban residents appointed by the Detroit mayor oversees operations.
Federal investigators say former Mayor Kilpatrick, along with his water chief Victor Mercado and aide Derrick Miller, helped businessman Bobby Ferguson obtain a series of lucrative contracts from the water system. The charges have prompted suburban leaders -- who have been questioning management decisions in court since 1977 -- to renew calls for regional oversight of the water system, suggesting the charges confirm fears suburban customers have been paying increased rates to cover managerial incompetence.
Listen to McCulloch:
"I truly believe it should be a regionally-governed system," McCulloch said this morning. "It already is a regional system, so why not govern it accordingly? By that, I mean that there ought to be true representation by the suburban communities at the table when these critical decisions (on water rates) are made."
McCulloch said that his calls to replace Oakland County's water board representative Marilynn Goslin have fallen on deaf ears. "That's the mayor's decision. I have asked since I've been elected," he said. "The suburbs don't really have any say who represents them."
According to the indictment, Kilpatrick and Miller delayed a $12 million amendment on a contract related to a collapsed line and sinkhole in Macomb County until the contractor agreed to pay Ferguson $350,000 despite the fact he did not work on the project. McCulloch said suburban communities deserve refunds for such deals, but his main priority is regional oversight.
"Who are you going to collect from?" he said. "I mean, you've got a city that is broke. I certainly am going to pursue that and pursue all avenues to collection, but I think that first and foremost, we've got to bring some transparency and accountability. And most importantly, we need to change the governance of how this thing is operated."
McCulloch isn't alone. In the past week, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson and Warren Mayor Jim Fouts have begun pushing for regional control. Patterson said he'll meet with other local leaders and could go to the state Legislature for help.
But they're likely to face a significant fight from city leaders who do not want to be punished for the errors of past.
"I will fight that to my death," Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh told The Detroit News last week. "We should not give up control of our water system. We have new leadership who can be trusted."
Our own Darrell Dawsey weighed in last week, pointing out that while Detroit needs to improve management, it should not consider giving up control of a system that still provides some of the more-reasonable rates in the nation. "Detroit owns the system because Detroit built the system," he wrote. "Detroit financed the system. And Detroit expanded the system. Being near 20 percent of the world's fresh water supply should have its advantages, and there's nothing wrong with the city taking advantage of that."
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Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:48 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Detroit's Swamp: Race, Water & Money
Updated: Friday, 30 Sep 2011, 8:54 AM EDT
Published : Thursday, 29 Sep 2011, 2:20 PM EDT
By Charlie LeDuff
FOX 2 Reporter & Columnist
DETROIT (WJBK) - An emergency session of the Detroit City Council convened earlier this week to protest a federal court order requiring the city to clean up its swamp of a Water Department was telling:
Almost nobody showed up.
The special session was convened in response to an order by U.S. District Judge Sean F. Cox that Mayor Dave Bing, City Council President Charles Pugh, President Pro-Tem Gary Brown and one water board commissioner come up with a plan to straighten up the city’s incompetent Water and Sewerage Department by Nov. 4, or the judge would do it for them.
The judge told them to disregard local law and existing contracts when drawing up their plan.
The ultimatum was an outrage to Councilwoman JoAnn Watson’s sensibilities and she took it there. “Somebody has decided they don’t want black folks in control of the city,” she said earlier this month. “They don’t want us to have local determination.”
Now race baiting is as old a political trick in Detroit as lying about where you live. The “they” of course is the “white” suburbs. Watson is black.
So it was telling that only two council members -- Watson and Brenda Jones -- were there for the official roll call. Two other council members wandered in late. Ken Cockrel Jr. sent an apologetic note saying he had child care issues.
Watson’s fellow council members seem to grasp the new arithmetic that seems outside her grasp -- it is less about black and white anymore as it about the green. With the city withering on the vine, people want solutions not slogans. A quarter-million blacks voted with their feet and left the city for the suburbs over the last decade.
Without a quorum, the council session never officially happened. Still, the 40 citizens in attendance gave spirited oratory about slavery, the suburbs and Adolf Hitler.
You can’t blame the people. Detroit has been steadily losing grip of its crumbling assets and infrastructure. It’s a matter of pride and identity. The Detroit Zoo and Cobo Hall are now shared with the suburbs. But it is worth noting those arrangements are working. Cobo Hall has been refurbished and the zebras are regularly fed.
Water isn’t sexy, but it’s the biggest honey pot around -- an $800 million a year enterprise serving 4.2 million mostly suburban customers. It is wholly owned and operated by the city -- with all contracts flowing across the desks of the mayor and city council members.
And as we’ve all seen by the Synagro sludge bribery scandal and the imprisonment of Monica Conyers and federal trial of Kwame Kilpatrick and the nine percent water rate hike -- the sewer department runs worse than a three-legged mule.
“The judge gets it, the mayor gets it and much of the city council gets it. It’s just that nobody can say it,” said John McCullough, a white man and the Oakland County resources commissioner who is familiar with Cox’s thinking. “There’s a culture Detroit, in that water system, where everybody’s got their hand out. And it’s the rate payers who pay the price.”
Nobody is happy that a federal judge with no experience in water utilities is asking four men with no experience in water utilities to come up with a plan in five weeks. Nobody is happy that he has instructed them to disregard local law and existing contracts.
But to his credit, Cox is giving Detroit a chance to fix its own mess. And to their credit, Detroiters and their leadership seem to be taking a wait-and-see approach. In the meantime, Watson is calling for taking-it-to-the-streets. |
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Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:38 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Detroit Water & Sewage Overhaul: New Plan Brings Big Changes
Updated: Friday, 04 Nov 2011, 10:17 PM EDT
Published : Friday, 04 Nov 2011, 4:25 PM EDT
By RON SAVAGE
WJBK | myFOXDetroit.com
DETROIT (WJBK) - "Everybody will not be happy," said Detroit Mayor Dave Bing on Friday. "That's all a part of negotiations."
Bing outlined Detroit's new direction reorganizing the city's Water and Sewerage Department. It's clearly a plan that will bump heads with unions, and it's been signed off as an order endorsed by federal Judge Sean Cox.
The order calls for a new management structure, a seven member regional board, but Detroit retains a majority.
The order will allow for outsourcing and privatization after the current contract expires.
"Collective bargain agreements as they are in place today are going to change, and I think that's a positive. It's not anti-union. It's all about creating much more transparency, much more efficiency," Bing told reporters.
"This order today is not going to make union members really happy. Specifically, here's what this order did. It eliminated furlough days. It eliminated bumping rights. It eliminated seniority. Now overtime is not by seniority, but it's only the most qualified worker and at management's discretion. There will be mandatory training programs under this order, and ... outsourcing now is okay," said FOX 2 legal analyst Charlie Langton.
How will this order play in other counties? Detroit has four million customers buying its water supply. One of Detroit's biggest water customers is Oakland County.
"For this committee and, of course, the judge to put this in place, which is going to have a major impact on the system within a 60 day period of time, I'm pleasantly pleased. I think the mayor, I think the City Council and the Water Board have done a good job of really identifying what the major issues are," said Oakland County Water Commissioner John McCulloch.
Bing said we will see a new water-sewer director this month. |
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Sat Nov 05, 2011 8:13 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| Is Flint or genesee county included in this new water board as we are another large consumer. |
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Sat Nov 05, 2011 8:15 am |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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| Heard on WWJ radio last night that mayor Bing said Detroit will keep complete control of the water board. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Sat Nov 05, 2011 10:09 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| water bills will continue to rise! |
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Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:05 am |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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Wed Nov 09, 2011 11:39 am |
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