April 20, 2016 (Flint, Mich) Mayor Karen Weaver made the following statement today after Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced criminal charges have been brought against two employees of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and City of Flint employee Mike Glasgow in connection with an ongoing investigation of the Flint water crisis.
“We do not take the charges filed by the attorney general lightly, and will place Mr. Glasgow on administrative leave until we learn more about this legal matter, keeping in mind that every person is considered innocent until proven guilty.
The community of Flint has suffered from this man-made water disaster for two years now. I feel it’s important and necessary for those who played a part in this crisis to be held accountable. There is plenty of blame to go around, from state policies that cut revenue sharing to cities such as Flint (where we have lost $63 million in the past 15 years), to state budget cuts that the U.S. EPA said diminished the ability of the state’s water quality enforcement operations. I’m not here to make judgements on anyone, but I do want the facts and I think the citizens of Flint deserve that.
While the results of this investigation continue to play out, I will continue working to move the City of Flint forward and to get residents clean, safe water they aren’t afraid to use. We will continue our efforts to increase staffing at the water plant. More importantly, we will continue working to replace all of the lead-tainted service lines in the city and to secure the $55 million needed to do that. I was pleased to learn that today, the Michigan Senate passed the $127 million supplemental budget bill Governor Snyder requested to help Flint, including $25 million to replace lead-tainted pipes. We urge the Michigan House to quickly follow the Senate’s lead so we can hire crews to get this vital project underway.
The people of Flint are resilient. We must do what’s necessary to recover from this water crisis by getting new pipes and providing the children and families poisoned by lead-tainted water with the supports and services they need and deserve.”
