| Author
|
Post |
 
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Arthur Woodson
34 mins ·
I dont understand why the city lie, knowing that the truth is out there. Then the mayor put pastors up there with her, to make it look like it's the Holy truth, and those pastors will lie quicker than someone who has missed their point in a dice game. People of Flint needs to WAKE UP!!!
This is what the NRDC which (along with the ACLU) brought the lawsuit that resulted in a settlement guaranteeing the sate would fund the replacement of service lines, had to say about today's announcement:
City Misleads Flint Residents: Thousands of Lead Pipes Likely Remain in Flint
FLINT, MI (December 4, 2018) – Today’s statements from Flint’s Mayor Karen Weaver announcing that the City has excavated more than 18,000 service lines were an improper characterization of the legal settlement on lead service line replacements in Flint. That settlement requires the City to target excavations at homes most likely to have hazardous lead and steel pipes, but the City has not done so; more than 80% of the City’s excavations this year were of homes with copper pipes.
To date, the City has replaced only 7,700 lead and steel service lines, leaving University of Michigan experts to conclude that thousands of hazardous pipes likely remain in the ground. Under the settlement, the City must seek out and remove Flint’s lead and galvanized steel pipes by 2020.
Following are reactions from groups associated with the lawsuit governing the replacement of lead service lines in Flint:
“It’s the number of lead pipes removed that matters, not the number of holes dug. The City needs to finish the job of finding and replacing the lead pipes in Flint, as our agreement demands that they do.” says Pastor Allen C. Overton of Concerned Pastors for Social Action, a plaintiff in the Concerned Pastors case.
“The Mayor’s press conference today was misleading and inaccurate. The City is well aware that it has not fulfilled its obligations under the Concerned Pastors settlement. We fought for an agreement that requires the City to get the lead pipes out, not just dig holes,” said Dimple Chaudhary, senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
“Why should we congratulate the Mayor for digging up 18,000 holes, when she’s not even trying to find the dangerous lead pipes? The City is wasting time and money by digging up thousands of copper pipes while many lead pipes go unexcavated,” said Melissa Mays, plaintiff in the Concerned Pastors case. |
|
|
Tue Dec 04, 2018 9:02 pm |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Jeffrey Shelley shared Griggs, Flint City Council, Ward 8's post.
1 hr ·
Thanks Allan Griggs for posting this.
Griggs, Flint City Council, Ward 8
3 hrs ·
Good afternoon members of Flint City Council,
As a follow up to the last email, I wanted to make it clear that I have also filed physical copies of the Memorandum and Exhibits at the Flint City Council chambers. I dropped 9 copies of the memo and exhibits off around 11:30 this morning.
Alec Scott Gibbs
Associate Attorney
Law Offices of Gregory T. Gibbs
Flint, MI
T: (810) 239-9470 ext. 3
C: (313) 399-9286
F: (810) 235-2468
*******
The information contained in this message is covered by attorney/client privilege and/or is confidential information intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that any dissemination, distribution or copy of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately notify the sender by telephone at (810) 239-9470 and destroy the original message. Thank you.
On Mon, 10 Dec 2018 at 12:15, Alec Gibbs <gibbsale@gmail.com> wrote:
Good afternoon Council persons,
My name is Alec Gibbs and I am an attorney who practices in the City of Flint. I am also a resident. Last week, I attended a city council committee meeting that was addressing the AECOM contract. I was troubled by what I considered to be evasive answers on the part of AECOM representatives in response to some pointed questions by members of city council, and a colleague of mine provided me with a copy of the AECOM contract to review on my own time.
After spending approximately six hours reviewing the contract, I was deeply disturbed by AECOM's responses, and by many of the public statements made by city officials and employees. I not only believe that AECOM is in breach of its obligations under the 2017 contract, but also that the actions taken by AECOM and city officials may have threatened the public health and safety of residents by de-prioritizing homes where lead service lines were projected to be found and elevating the priority of homes that were known to have copper lines.
Because it appeared to me that only one or two council members had the opportunity to review the contract before the committee meeting, I decided to prepare a memorandum for city council and to attach the important parts of the contract that address the assumptions of the parties and the requirement that AECOM replace approximately 6,000 lead service lines.
Let me be clear: There is no doubt in my mind that AECOM has failed to satisfy the requirement of the contract that approximately 6,000 lead service lines be replaced. Even more concerning, AECOM did not operate with the aim of replacing approximately 6,000 lead service lines, but instead adopted a "no ward left behind" policy that placed politics and public relations above public health. I am very concerned that these actions not only threaten public health, but may result in litigation that prevents the City of Flint from replacing all lead service lines in the event that AECOM's breach is not resolved through the dispute resolution process.
I am not able to attend the committee or council meetings tonight because of prior work engagements. However, I have asked my friend, Nayyirah Shariff, Director of Flint Rising, to attend the council meeting and to place my concerns on the record during public comment. I am also attaching local press on this email.
I have followed the Flint Water Crisis since its inception, as has Ms. Shariff. We are both aware that the Flint Water Crisis began with the lack of transparency, accountability and oversight in the switch to the Karegnondi Pipeline and the ensuing lack of transparency, accountability and oversight in the management of the use of Flint river water.
Now that Flint is no longer in receivership, there is no excuse for any council person or elected official who fails to perform their oversight responsibilities. This is not the responsibility of the state, the federal government or even city officials: Responsibility for ensuring compliance with the contract to replace the lead service line falls on elected officials, including the mayor and city council. As residents, we must demand transparency and accountability, and as elected officials you have a responsibility under the charter to provide it.
As a concerned resident, I hope that the Flint City Council will perform its oversight duties and decline to approve this additional amount and require AECOM to go through the dispute resolution process before giving them any additional funding. No contract or campaign is more important than public health, and Flint elected officials have an obligation to their constituents to ensure that monies allocated for lead service line replacement are actually being spent on replacing lead lines.
Sincerely,
Alec Gibbs
Alec Scott Gibbs
Associate Attorney
Law Offices of Gregory T. Gibbs
Flint, MI
T: (810) 239-9470 ext. 3
C: (313) 399-9286
F: (810) 235-2468 |
|
|
|
Mon Dec 10, 2018 5:03 pm |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Eva Worthing Flint City Council 9th Ward
7 hrs ·
Last night Flint City Council approved an additional $1 million for AECOM. AECOM did not live up to their $5.5 million contract yet they were given additional monies by a yes vote from Eric Mays, Maurice Davis, Santino Guerra, Herb Winfrey and Jerri Winfrey-Carter.
1) AECOM did NOT complete 6,000 lead line replacements as stated in the contract multiple times.
2) AECOM did NOT use hydrovaccing as stated in their contract which cost us millions of dollars more and the city may not get reimbursed by the state. Bankruptcy is looking like a real possibility for Flint at this time.
3) AECOM did not use the predictive model which has a 94% success rate for finding lead lines. Instead, they randomly dug up yards consisting mostly of copper. Only 1,500 lead lines were replaced this year. Their success rate of finding lead was worse than randomly throwing a dart on the board. |
|
|
|
Tue Dec 11, 2018 3:29 pm |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Flint City Council approves additional $1.1 million to AECOM contract despite pleas against it
Updated 12:58 PM; Posted 12:58 PM
Gallery: Flint City Council approves an additional $1.1 million to AECOM's contract managing FAST Start replacement program at a Dec. 10 general council meeting.
By Zahra Ahmad | zahmad@mlive.com zahmad@mlive.com
FLINT, MI -- Flint City Council has added $1.1 million to a Los Angeles-based engineering firm’s $5 million contract overseeing the city’s FAST Start service line replacement program.
The 5-4 vote approving additional funding for the multi-billion dollar company’s contract was made at a Dec. 10 general council meeting. Fourth Ward Councilwoman Kate Fields, 7th Ward Councilwoman Monica Galloway, 8th Ward Councilman Allan Griggs and 9th Ward Councilwoman Eva Worthing voted against the measure.
The extra money is for managing the additional exploratory water-line replacements that are being done, according to a resolution by city administrator Steve Branch.
First Ward Councilman Eric Mays, 2nd Ward Councilman Maurice Davis and 5th Ward Councilwoman Jerri Winfrey-Carter, 6th Ward Councilman Herb Winfrey and 3rd Ward Councilman Santino Guerra all in favor of AECOM, stating the company accomplished a lot of work that had to get done.
AECOM’s contract states it’s responsible for managing the removal and replacement of 6,000 lead service lines. The engineering firm oversaw the excavation of 2,846 pipes at homes in addition to the 6,000 digs it reached in September.
During public comment period of the council meeting, residents pleaded with council not to approve the additional funding for AECOM’s contract.
“You’re setting a precedence that anyone can go and make decisions over the heads of city council and you’ll go along with it,” resident Arthur Woodson said. “They’re saying now they’ll use the predictive model to plan, they should’ve been using the model. Not one time have we been able to speak to AECOM, this is wrong, setting this precedence is wrong. They didn’t meet their goal of replacing 6,000 lead service lines.”
Since AECOM took over, 9,953 homes have had their service lines checked. Of the homes checked, 15 percent had lead lines, which were replaced.
The predictive computer model was built in 2016 after researchers Eric Schwartz, from the University of Michigan, and Jacob Abernethy, from Georgia Tech, learned Flint was having a hard time locating hazardous service lines.
Flint to use predictive model to plan for Phase 6 of service l
ine replacementsFlint to use predictive model to plan for Phase 6 of service line replacements
Flint city attorney, Angela Wheeler, stated the city is willing to use a predictive model that locates lead or galvanized lines for planning service line replacements in 2019.
Over the course of two years, the model helped increase the city’s success rate for finding and replacing lead water-lines to 80 percent.
The model was no longer used for planning service line replacements when AECOM took over in December 2017. This year’s hit rate for finding hazardous water-lines is 15 percent.
Flint Rising director, Nayyirah Shariff, stated that what AECOM is doing is called “disaster capitalism.” She expressed her frustration with the engineering firm’s lack of transparency and empty promises of holding community meetings throughout the year.
Disaster capitalism is defined as companies or bodies of governments “taking advantage of a major disaster to adopt liberal economic policies that the population would be less likely to accept under normal circumstances.”
“When there is a disaster, vultures come in and make a profit after the disaster and the people are left in the wind,” Shariff said. “Y’all hold the purse strings and you need to sue them for breaching the contract.”
Ed Tharp, program manager for AECOM, stated that the company was asked by city administration to hold off on presenting at another community forum until AECOM was further into the project.
Guerra questioned if AECOM supports the halt to using a hydrovac as a tool to dig 10-foot trenches. Tharp stated that hydrovac isn’t mentioned as an excavation tool in the contract, as opposed to using a backhoe and shovels to dig a pipe trench.
“I cannot specifically speculate which is a safer procedure, if either one is done correctly," Tharp said.
Shariff also spoke to council on behalf of Michigan Civil Liberties Union attorney Alec Gibbs, who submitted a memorandum to council advising to vote against awarding AECOM an additional $1.1 million. The memorandum instead encouraged council to enter a dispute resolution process.
The memorandum states AECOM breached its contract agreements and that it is city council’s responsibility to perform its oversight duties by declining to approve the additional funding.
“Now that Flint is no longer in receivership, there is no excuse for any council person or elected official who fails to perform their oversight responsibilities,” the memorandum states. “As residents, we must demand transparency and accountability, and as elected officials you have a responsibility under the charter to provide it.”
Other residents, such as community activist Quincy Murphy and pastor Allen Gilbert, also pleaded with council not to award AECOM additional money. They also voiced concern that by AECOM going over the heads of council and amending its contract without council’s approval, they and other city officials have gone against the Flint City Charter.
“There’s something in the weeds and we need to cut the weeds,” Gilbert said. “If you’re not going to uphold the charter, then it’s time for you to be voted out of office.”
(State withholds $2.5 million in reimbursements for Flint water line work)
After reviewing the $4 million request, the state has removed the "ineligible" costs for now, reimbursing Flint with only $1.4 million in state funding and $289,321 in federal funding.
Fourth Ward Councilwoman, Kate Fields, was frustrated at the lack of communication to council when the 6,000th service line was excavated. Fields argued because the scope of the work changed, city council should’ve been approached for approval of amending AECOM’s contract.
“You can’t bring this to us after the fact,” Fields previously said.
Fields expressed that there were several city council meetings that city administration could’ve attended and brought the amendment of the contract to council’s attention.
Moss stated that AECOM had discussions with city administration and were given the green light to continue work so they continued to do so without the approval of city council.
“We did that at our own risk,” Moss previously said. “If it was added to my scope or amended to our scope we don’t have a problem doing that.”
Previously, director of public works for the city, Rob Bincsik, said city officials didn’t think it would look good to stop work in September to negotiate a change in the contract.
Rather, Bincsik said he and the chief financial officer for the city, Hughey Newsome, negotiated the change work with AECOM.
First Ward Councilman Eric Mays, 2nd Ward Councilman Maurice Davis and 5th Ward Councilwoman Jerri Winfrey-Carter all vouched for AECOM stating their opinions that the engineering firm is providing Flint with the best quality work.
Flint water-line replacement on hold in area where high chance of finding lead lines
Flint water-line replacement on hold in area where high chance of finding lead lines
The company managing FAST Start will postpone looking for lead in an area of the city where the hit rate of finding hazardous water lines is 95 percent.
All other committee agenda items, such as approving nearly $1 million in upgrades to Flint’s water pollution control facilities, road construction and Flint’s biennial budget, were passed at the meeting.
Memorandum to City Council With Exhibits December 10 2018 by zahra A on Scribd |
|
|
|
Tue Dec 11, 2018 3:59 pm |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Flint city councilwoman alleges pay for play at City Hall
by Femi Redwood Wednesday, December 12th 2018
Flint city councilwoman alleges pay for play at City Hall.
Flint, Mich.
Just two days after Flint City Council voted to give AECOM more money, one city council member is alleging impropriety between Flint mayor Karen Weaver and the engineering firm. AECOM is the company in charge of managing Flint’s water lines replacement.
NBC 25/FOX66 News took a look into Mayor Weaver’s campaign finance report from the most recent quarter.
It shows thousands of dollars of donations to the committee, “The Friends of Karen Weaver”, from people connected to AECOM, like one senior vice president.
Mayor Weaver said the records are public saying she is not trying to hide anything, but Council member Eva Worthing is uncomfortable with the connection and says she worries it could bankrupt the city.
“It’s not illegal but it could be unethical and one of the factors as to why AECOM got 1.1 million more dollars,” Worthing said.
On Wednesday, Worthing said she is unhappy the council voted to give AECOM more money.
The latest finance report is part of the reason why Worthing is upset. We found three different $2,000 donations from people connected to AECOM, for a total of $6,000.
“I have huge concerns that AECOM and this administration made deals together,” Worthing said.
She questions other contributions with companies that have contracts with the city.
For example, back in May, Goyette Mechanical was awarded $5,626, 830 to help remove lead service lines. But according to that same finance report, two different people connected to the construction company donated a total of $4,000.
Weaver said the donations are legal and said many came were donated during a gala.
She says it’s a good sign that businesses want to donate to Flint’s mayor.
“A lot of business people came. And I’m really happy that they did. I’m happy that they wanted to be part of it. I’m happy that they like the direction the city is going in,” Mayor Weaver says.
She says Worthing’s allegations are false, saying many businesses had contracts prior to donating.
Councilman Eric Mays agrees with the mayor.
He says city council awards contracts, not the mayor. He says campaign contributions don’t affect his vote. Mays says he voted to give AECOM more money because he believes it’s best for taxpayers.
“I support the mayor and I’m glad that they did what we did in campaign finance,” he says.
“We’ve got so many important things going on the city and someone wants to do a smear campaign,” Weaver says.
But Worthing is concerned if the state denies payment for AECOM’s services, taxpayers will be stuck with the bill.
“Yes there positive things going on in the City of Flint but its overshadowed by the fact that we may go bankrupt,” Worthing says.
AECOM says it needs the additional 1.1 million dollars to manage the search for lead pipe lines. The mayor says she is happy with the firm’s work, saying it is ahead of schedule.
But Worthing and other council members say the firm hasn’t lived up to original five-million dollar contract and that’s why they disagree with giving AECOM even more money |
|
|
|
Thu Dec 13, 2018 8:17 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
|
|
Thu Dec 13, 2018 8:33 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Letter from Flint Newsome to DEQ Green dated 5 ... - State of Michigan
https://www.michigan.gov/.../flintwater/Letter_from_Flint_Newsome_to_DEQ_Green...
May 24, 2018 - The purpose of this letter is to discuss funds needed to pKelly Green, Infrastructure Coordinator
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
525 West Allegan Street
Lansing, MI 48933
Dear Ms. Green:
Dawn Steele
Deputy Finance Director
Subject: Program Management Costs for Development of the Intended Use Plan
The purpose of this letter is to discuss funds needed to pay AECOM, the current
program manager for all Water Infrastructure Improvement for the Nation (WIIN)
related projects. AECOM has invoiced the city up to a total of $433,276 for
development of the Project Plan and Intended Use Plan, which includes an
allocation of overall program administration costs. The draft of the project plan was
initially submitted to MDEQ for review in March 2018 and is currently in its final
review stages before final submission to the US Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) for final approval.
Ideally, the funds needed to pay AECOM for the development of this plan would
have come from the funds directly. However, the time needed to get approval from
EPA, have public hearings locally at the City of Flint and get any local approval
does not allow for immediate use of these funds and would force the city to "float"
the money to pay AECOM. Originally, to address this timing challenge, the city had
budgeted money from the initial $40M allotment of WIIN funding (including the
$20M state match) to pay AECOM' s initial costs for project plan development.
These funds have now been exhausted.
Because of this, the City of Flint has determined that the remaining funds available
in the original $40 million WIIN allotment wil1 be used to pay for AECOM', the current program manager for all Water Infrastructure Improvement for
.program costs to deve1op the project p]an and update the IUP. Because the original
intent of the first $40M a1lotment fel] under infrastructure improvement, funds still
remain from this allotment, the city is not projected to exhaust this funding and the
availability of new funds will not be available for at least 2-3 months, the city sees
no other path forward and must take this approach.
Furthermore, it must be stated that the city always scrutinizes costs. AECOM
invoices are reviewed in advance of approval, payment and reimbursement. Given
how quickly AECOM has used the original allotment for project plan deve]opment,
the city has had numerous discussions with AECOM around cost control. Our
expectation is that AECOM will improve their ability to limit costs going forward.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding this update, please let me know at
your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
)' I , r1WL---- _.,,.
H~ ey Newsome
Chief Financial Officer, City of Flint, Michigan
cc:
Eric Pocan, Project Manager, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
Rob Bincsik, Director, Department of Public Works, City of Flint
Angela Wheeler, City Attorney, City of Flint
Steve Branch, .Acting City Administrator, City of Flint |
|
|
|
Thu Dec 13, 2018 3:41 pm |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
State: Flint is ignoring tens of millions of dollars for water pipeline replacement
Beth LeBlanc, The Detroit News Published 7:00 a.m. ET July 27, 2018 | Updated 12:20 p.m. ET July 27, 2018
Flint appears to be ignoring tens of millions of dollars in federal and state grant funds available to it for lead service line replacement, Michigan officials told the city's chief financial officer in a letter sent Wednesday.
The letter from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality maintains that Flint has drawn only $27.2 million of the $167 million in state and federal funds that have been available to Flint since early 2017. Flint's use of 17 percent of available money comes, state officials said, as city officials are telling contractors they do not have enough money to pay them for more than a partial contract.
“Recently the state was notified that the city is issuing partial contracts to SLR (service line replacement) contractors under the premise that the state is withholding funds from the city. This not accurate,” DEQ Administration Deputy Director Amy Epkey wrote in the letter.
Eighteen months after the federal government authorized the money for Flint, the DEQ “continues to remain concerned by the slow rate of reimbursement requests,” Epkey said.
The delays are due to staffing shortages within the city, ones that have existed “since emergency managers slashed positions,” Flint’s chief finance officer Hughey Newsome said in a statement.
The letter is the latest indicator of the ongoing tension between the state and city as they work to replace the lead service lines that contributed to Flint's lead-contaminated water. Mayor Karen Weaver objected and threatened legal action when Gov. Rick Snyder decided in April to stop providing free bottled water after testing showed tap water quality had improved.
Although the city's water currently meets federal lead action standards, it became contaminated with lead after the city switched its water source to the Flint River in April 2014.
While under a state-appointed emergency manager, Flint stopped using pretreated water from the Detroit area system and joined a regional water authority. It used the Flint River as an interim water source while the Karegnondi Water Authority built its pipeline from Lake Huron into Genesee County.
The failure to treat the river water with corrosion-control chemicals — based on the advice of state water regulators — is blamed for the resulting lead contamination that was first identified in August and September 2015.
The city has worked to replace its estimated 18,000 lead service lines. There is about $100 million in federal money approved in late 2016 available for the water infrastructure upgrades in Flint as well as money from a roughly $87 million settlement in March 2017 from a federal lawsuit filed by the Concerned Pastors for Social Action group in Flint.
Almost 6,630 pipes — about 37 percent of the total lead pipelines — had been replaced in Flint through June 21 as part of the city's Fast Start program. The program is funded with the federal dollars referenced in the DEQ's letter. In total, the city has roughly $167 million at its disposal for water infrastructure improvements.
In its Wednesday letter to the city, the DEQ said it is prepared to make bi-monthly reimbursements to the city, but has received no reimbursement requests from the city for work completed in 2018.
The DEQ’s letter to the city also noted about $1.26 million of a $5 million advance given to the city in 2016 for service line replacement is “unsupported by proper documentation.” And the letter questions whether the city is pricing its service line replacement correctly so it complies with a $5,000 limit per address.
The state has given the city a deadline of Aug. 10 to submit all reimbursement requests for work completed prior to June, and wants a detailed timeline of when work will be completed on various infrastructure projects.
The city is juggling reimbursement requests alongside day-to-day operations with a depleted staff, Newsome said. The finance and public works departments are working to produce a timetable for the reimbursement requests and manage the cost per address to replace the lead service lines.
“Meanwhile, the city is exploring the state’s position expressed in the letter and the proper officials will respond at the appropriate time,” Newsome said.
The state is prepared to assist Flint in meeting the August deadline for reimbursement requests, said MDEQ spokeswoman Tiffany Brown.
"Making sure contractors are appropriately paid by the city for the eligible work they are performing, and the city is then reimbursed in accordance with state and federal laws is a focus for the DEQ," Brown said in a statement.
The state environmental agency has clashed with the city before over the improvement of Flint's water infrastructure.
As recently as June, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver told The Detroit News the DEQ was making “false accusations or lies” about Flint’s compliance with state and federal drinking water laws — accusations she believed were retaliation for her anger at Snyder when he ended the state’s free bottled water deliveries.
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
(517) 371-3661 |
|
|
|
Thu Feb 07, 2019 8:53 pm |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Register
Profile
FlintTalk.com Forum Index
> Political Talk
