Hey not sure what day works for
you... I now have until Nov 2.
Lemme know.
On Tue, Oct 20, 2015 at 10:50
AM, Stanton, Terry A. (Treasury)
<
[email protected]>
wrote:
Hey Lindsey...
I can provide you with a list of the
managers who worked in Flint,
though I cannot promise | will be
able to put you in contact with
anyone directly.
{ do think it is important for you to
have the following
background...and to reiterate that
the decision to move to KWA, and
thus the decision to use the Flint
River as a temporary source (until
KWA came on line) was a decision
made collectively by local
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officials...they mayor, city council,
and others.
Please see the information below
and attached for additional
background on timing, decision-
making, etc.
Discussions about the possible
development of a Flint-
area/Genesee County water system
had been on-going since the early
2000's and the City of Flint had
been in discussions about the
possibility of joining KWA for much
of that time, certainly prior to the
appointment of an emergency
manager (Mike Brown) in
December 2011. The following M-
Live articles show the city was
looking at a possible move to KWA,
which Genesee County strongly
supported, well before a manager
was appointed.
gen
esee county _w.html
ndex.ssf/2011/01/water pipeline _v
S flint_river.html
ndex.ssf/2011/04/city of flint_still
mulling wa.html
http:
be_presente.html
ndex.ssf/2011/12/so_ far so good
genesee_county 1.htmi
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xxxEND_PAGE:treasury01_b36_6099_6552_437
Additionally, The Flint Journal
supported the move to KWA in an
editorial in Sept. 2011, again, prior
to the appointment of a manager.
t/index.ssf/2011/09/our voice _its
decision time fo.html
Prior to the decision to move to
KWA, which the Mayor and City
Council fully supported (March 2013
Flint Journal story cites 7-1 City
Council vote to join KWA);
i
fint_city council approves re.html
the city’s emergency manager
(Mike Brown in June 2012; Ed Kurtz
in Sept. 2012) twice requested
permission from DWSD to blend
river water with DWSD water to
ensure high quality, safe drinking
water for residents, while saving the
city an estimated $2-3 million
annually (DWSD was proposing a 5x
rate increase for the City of Flint).
It is also important to note that the
Genesee County Drain
Commissioner, who had been
heading up the KWA_ project,
required that Flint’s elected leaders
approve _of and sign-off on the
transition to KWA as he believed it
was important to have the city’s
elected officials make the decision
and not an emergency manager (see
attached).
Under PA 436, an emergency
manager’s approval is required for
transactions of $50,000 or more,
and thus Ed Kurtz did approve the
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xxxEND_PAGE:treasury01_b36_6099_6552_438
eventual move to KWA, again with
full support and urging from the
Mayor and City Council. Kurtz's
letter, detailing that decision after
consideration of DWSD’s “last, best
offer” is attached.
This is not a situation where the
Mayor and Council wanted to utilize
one system with the EM reversing
course. All involved in the decision-
making process agreed KWA was
the best long-term option for the
City of Flint. With Flint’s decision to
go with KWA, DWSD terminated
Flint’s contract, effective April 17,
2014 (letter attached). Given that
termination, Flint had two
“options:”
-sign a long-term (30 year)
agreement with DWSD, which was
not economically feasible given the
city’s decision to go with KWA
-Use Flint River as an interim source
(it had long been the city’s backup)
until KWA was on-line
w
ater to come f.htmi
« [tis also important to note that the
current situation in Flint has been
exacerbated by years of neglect and
a lack of maintenance to the
decades-old system. All this said,
the most important issue now is
moving things forward, through the
collaborative State, City, and
Foundation effort to ensure safe
drinking water for the residents of
Flint.
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